TGR Foundation

I am currently a senior at Dartmouth College, majoring in Sociology and minoring in Markets, Economics and Management. I hope to merge both my passions for business and social impact over the course of my career. I have been part of many different organizations that give back to the community, including TGR Foundation’s Earl Woods Scholar Program.

In 2016, I co-founded Empowering Generations of Leaders (E.G.O.L), a collective that works on developing young leaders in the community and encourages them to lend their voice in the worlds of art, politics and civic engagement to change their neighborhoods for the better. More recently, I also co-founded my clothing company R.House. With my company, I have been able to provide a platform and a distribution channel for young creatives of color.

What can one person do to change the world? That is a tough question. Many people ask themselves this question. I would venture to guess that most answer it with pessimism. How could the actions of one person actually change the world? Unless you are Bill Gates or Elon Musk or someone with unlimited means and influence, you probably feel that your efforts would be a drop in the ocean.

I started to think about what I could do. I thought if I can help one person, that person can possibly help other people and those people will carry the wave further out in concentric circles.
With this in mind, I volunteered with TGR Foundation to be a mentor.

Today, TGR Foundation announced the appointment of Gordon McNeill as the foundation’s new President and CEO. McNeill, a seasoned nonprofit leader with experience in education, corporate strategy, capital raising and event management will lead the foundation as it continues its mission to empower students to pursue their passions through education.

McNeill succeeds Rick Singer, who announced his retirement after serving as the foundation’s President and CEO since 2014. Singer will assist in the leadership transition as a consultant to the foundation.

This year since the transition to remote learning, I’ve consistently read and heard about the failure of remote learning and how students will continue to fall further and further behind because teaching can’t happen without a classroom.

We are at an inflection point, one that challenges teachers, and everyone in education, to not succumb to the way things used to be, but instead, give voice and energy to what can be for each and every classroom around the country. Now is the time to create new spaces for learning – without fear of failure.

We encouraged our TGR Learning Lab educators to experiment during their summer virtual classes, and they learned seven practices that proved to be effective in remote learning environments.

With the release of our 2019 Annual Report, we look back on a year highlighted by a historic milestone as we reached a cumulative one million students impacted through TGR EDU: Explore, alone. In addition, we continued to fulfill our mission and expand impact among students, educators and families globally.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is Commencement.  I love the pageantry, the music, the colors, seeing proud families cheering on their graduate and yes, I do cry at Pomp and Circumstance – every time. Commencement signals a rite of passage, and comes with a lot of hard work, sacrifice, sleepless nights and hope.  For some this road of accomplishment represents a different kind of sacrifice, unique to those who will be the first in their family to graduate.

The Class of 2020 has achieved its success in the shadow of a world health crisis and the unsettling circumstances surrounding racial inequities. In the face of darkness, learning and education will always be a bright light.

Every day at TGR Foundation we work toward our vision of a world where opportunity is universal and potential is limitless.

Our impact over the last 25 years has reached into deeply underrepresented communities of color. As we move through an unprecedented global pandemic and unrest over the recent tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many other members of the Black community that have come before them, our thoughts are with their families. Beyond our emotions, we offer our support and commitment to be a part of real change.

Many of us have heard “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” Going into my first day of high school, all I could think about was the destination – graduation night. However, being the oldest sibling also meant achieving this goal wasn’t just for me. I realized early on that I had to be the one to set the steppingstone for my younger siblings, show them just how important education is and what it means to have a high school diploma; graduating is the first step in doing so.

Losing the privilege of that special walk because of the COVID-19 outbreak took a good while for me to process.

It was March 11th when my family and I were sitting in the Orlando airport waiting to catch a flight back home from Disney World where we had just spent the past five days for spring break. When we left home on March 5 there were 159 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.  I watched […]

With the doors to schools and academic institutions closed to stop the spread of COVID-19,  TGR Foundation understands the challenges that students, parents and educators are facing as they navigate the  world of distance learning.  The resources offered through our  no-cost  digital platform,  TGR EDU: Explore,  will help parents-turned-educators and education professionals  alike  keep students engaged until schools are back in session and beyond.    

Lessons engage participants in relevant disciplines and related 21st-century careers, with content ranging from animal ancestry and life science to astronomy, engineering, video game design and more.