Hometown: New York City, NY
Education: Smith College, Bachelor of Arts in English Language & Literature with a minor in Education, 2020
Dionna is pursuing a master's in Urban Education Policy at Brown University. As an undergraduate at Smith College, she utilized the College's Education & Child Study department, along with adjacent practical opportunities, to bolster her skills and knowledge as an aspiring leader within the field. These opportunities included getting direct classroom teaching experience through the department's Urban Education Initiative (now known as the Mindich Fellowship), as well as conducting an independent study on barriers and strategies pertaining to academic success for community college students.
Since graduating from Smith, Dionna has continued to pursue a range of experiences within the world of education. Specifically, she has spent the past four years working as a college access advisor for College Visions, a non-profit based in Providence, RI dedicated to alleviating barriers to higher education for first-generation students, and has worked as a research intern for the Learning Policy Institute, contributing to projects dealing with topics such as improving teacher diversity and democratizing school finance formulas.
After her time at Brown, Dionna hopes to continue being part of the fight for educational equity. Her goal is to serve as a researcher or policy analyst for local and state education departments or think tanks and go on to pursue senior leadership positions within these institutions and similar entities.