Tomorrow’s Educators bringing in local activist

The student organization Tomorrow’s Educators will be presenting the two-time national slam-poetry champion,  local hip hop artist and social justice activist Guante from 7:30-9:00 p.m., on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in the Falcon’s Nest.

Guante, a Minnesota local, has championed many educational and activist causes. He founded the MN Activist Project, which is an organization devoted to allowing those in the Twin Cities area who want to become involved in activism, as well as the Hip Hop Against Homophobia concert series.

Guante also moderates workshops on performance and writing for youth. He advocates issues such as privilege and identity in his poetry and raps.

“Guante brings a unique perspective to UWRF,” Ruble said.

Guante, during his poetry and raps, mentions the concepts of teaching and direct service, according to Ruble. Education, the core of Tomorrow’s Educators, is a viewed as a direct service field.

“We must learn about social issues, like white privilege [as a part of a direct service field],” Ruble said.

There are many social issues in the direct service fields of education mentioned by Ruble such as the issues with inner city schools dealing with largely different ethnicities and social backgrounds that make up the student body as compared to the average educator, which is of a middle class white background.

“We need to confront these issues,” Ruble said.

The hope of Tomorrow’s Educators is that Guante and his activist poetry will bring to light these social issues and present them in a way that all students can enjoy understanding.

“[It will promote] learning about social issues in a fun way,” Ruble said.

Tomorrow’s Educators is an organization composed of 82 members registered on OrgSync. The goals of the group are carried out both on and off campus.

The group works on campus to bring the different types of education majors together, according to group president Paul Ruble. The group also does volunteer work in the River Falls community in order to represent the UW-River Falls campus in a professional manner.

The organization’s volunteer involvement includes work with Big Brother Big Sister on campus events and recruitment and sponsoring tutoring in local schools. The organization is a combination of majors that pertain to the education field including Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Communication Disorders, Elementary Education, Secondary Education and Special Education.

Tomorrow’s Educators was granted $1,000 of the remaining $3,000 available for single-event funding designated by the Allocable Fees Appropriation Board (AFAB) of Student Senate.

The organization has been working on the execution of this event since July of this past summer. This effort by Tomorrow’s Educators has become one of the largest events to be held by a student organization, with the exception of fraternity and sorority sponsored events.

Tomorrow’s Educators has also advocated that other organizations, such as Black Student Union and the Student Social Work Association, that confront any number of social issues to attend this event.

The event is free and open to the student population. The evening will include a facilitated discussion after the performance that will open the floor to those who have any questions, opinions or thoughts.

For more information on this event or Tomorrow’s Educators, contact Ruble at paul.ruble@my.uwrf.edu.