Alicia Torres is the Education Director at Felton Institute.
“Surge means opportunity. Education equality entails providing different needs for different people, and meeting individuals where they are at, this is how I view educational equity, which goes beyond equality. “The pursuit of full humanity, however, cannot be carried out in isolation or individualism, but in fellowship and solidarity; therefore, it cannot unfold in the antagonistic relations between oppressors and oppressed. No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so.” (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire, 85). The Surge Institute is a community and movement for people who have chosen to go deeper in combating oppression experienced by students of African American, Latinx, or Asian Pacific Islander descent. I see this opportunity at Surge Institute to help my development in areas of leadership to strengthen my current vision and to manifest more dreams about what else could be possible in reaching equity across an unjust early childhood education system.
My hope is to strengthen the field of early childhood education and increase equity as an essential service for our community and to provide our children with a high-quality experience through their first moments of community socialization. I hope to provide more for my community and pass forward new knowledge to others and continue a cycle of pouring into people in order to steward strong communities.”