Jumana Rose
Expanded Learning Coordinator
Equitas Academy Charter School: Expanded Learning Program
Jumana Rose’s passion for education began early on in life, as did the formation of her beliefs about the education system. She loved school as a youth, and recognized the impact and importance of a quality learning experience. Early on, she maintained a strongly idealistic stance that education and opportunity were two consistent, necessary elements of success readily available to all and any who were interested. Education and opportunity provided a framework of sorts, helping individuals create a pathway to greater opportunities and the chance to determine and define their future. Jumana knew that climbing over self doubt, realizing one’s potential, and attaining true focus were common obstacles found in most journeys. But her belief remained that whatever path chosen as a youth, invested individuals, education, and opportunity would be available as guidance.
Jumana quickly realized that her perception of access to education did not account for the hurdles of inequity, the roadblocks of limited community resources, and the glass ceilings created by systemic racist procedures and practices. It became clear that education and opportunity were not a mandated right, a civil liberty offered to all youth, but instead and unrightfully so, a privilege to those who can afford to acquire the knowledge to navigate the educational system, or to those who were deemed deserving of a quality education.
It was after this realization that Jumana knew her role within education was to stand up and show up as an advocate for youth, who are repeatedly denied opportunities available through education. Only through intentional leadership would Jumana be able to challenge systems and empower individuals to know their rights and their power, and to use both in defining, creating, and reaching success.
While obtaining her Bachelor’s in Public Relations from Howard University, Jumana tutored inner city students and worked with a national literacy program each summer discovering the potential for transformation when the individuals pushing, providing, and advocating share the same backgrounds and experiences as they students they serve.
Once Jumana moved into the role of Site Lead in an affluent, resource-rich community, she found herself thinking back to an afternoon she was tutoring one of her most beloved students at a program in South East Washington, D.C. and he refused to believe that a Black adult could hold any position of prestige aside from that of an athlete or an entertainer. This affluent community experienced an abundance of resources they happily made available to students, while Jumana just left a district experiencing school closures and sparse funding. This experience deepened her belief that this disparity must be dismantled and that all students deserve a chance to succeed with the best accommodations to do so.
Jumana is currently working in a space she feels most purpose and drive, an inner city program where she serves as an Expanded Learning Coordinator affecting real community change. Jumana is currently pursuing her Master’s of Education with a focus in Educational Leadership, continuing to take steps to address much needed system changes. “I cannot figure it out but I do know that after school is a safe space that has the intentionality needed to build young minds and to rebuild outdated systems,” Jumana said. “The possibilities, the relationships, the nurturing, the exploration, the truth telling, and the story sharing that occurs in after school is what is at the core and very foundation of education.” Jumana cannot stand by idly while any more children of color believe that only in their wildest dreams would a CEO of a Tech company ever be a person of color let alone an African American individual. Jumana will continue to work for every child of color to know they can be that CEO.