You can find humanity and make social progress along any career or academic path, Milton alumna Jovonna Jones ’11 told students. “If justice and equity aren’t part of your life, you should examine that. That’s a problem.” Jovonna is a doctoral student in African and African American studies at Harvard, where she researches critical race theory, American art history, performance studies and cultural practice. She joined fellow alumni Osaremen Okolo ’13 and Kevin Collins ’10 in a discussion about race and service sponsored by the Community Engagement Program and the student club Onyx. Osaremen is a pre-med student at Harvard, where she co-founded the Politics of Race and Ethnicity, a Harvard University Institute of Politics program. She is writing her undergraduate thesis on the stereotypes of hyper-sexuality and hyper-fertility of black women, and how such perception affects black women’s access to the latest in reproductive medicine. Kevin became interested in community service while he attended Milton and remained active at Georgetown. He enrolled in Teach for America, a program that places young college graduates in underserved schools, and became a high school geometry teacher in New Orleans.
“I had a lot to learn. It wasn’t my place to speak or to try to lead. I had to listen to what was being said and was not being said. You have to give yourself time to do that.” — Jovonna Jones ’11