During his junior year at William and Mary, William B. Morris III garnered quite a bit of media attention for his organization’s receipt of the 2010 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award in the “Outstanding Educational Institution” category. As a senior, he followed that up with the 2010 President’s Award for Community Service and the 2011 Monroe Prize in Civic Leadership. For the past six months, Mr. Morris has been working at the Urban Prep Charter School for African American males in Chicago’s notoriously disadvantaged and at-risk Englewood community. On a break from Urban Prep, Will sat down for a Q&A with TeachersBox.

TBox: Good afternoon Will, tell our readers a little about yourself.

WM: I’m a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the former president of the Kappa Pi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, whose express aims are community outreach, civic engagement, and exemplary academic achievement. While at W&M, I organized the Distinguished Gentlemen initiative at Berkley Middle School, a mentoring program with at-risk African American males. I also served as the campus liaison for Rites of Passage, a co-ed mentoring initiative at Toano Middle School.

TBox: Talk to us about your immediate academic interests as well as your long term career aspirations?

WM: My current work is centered around closing the achievement gap and my long term career goal is to position minority and low income students to take advantage of ever increasing educational opportunities.

TBox: Please elaborate on that point for our readers.

WM: Closing the achievement gap will not only require on-going educational reform.  It will also necessitate a re-conceptualization of school-community partnerships and a re-commitment to maintaining stable families. Horace Mann’s vision of education as the great equalizer of opportunity is not yet a reality for many students in urban communities.  But it still can be if instructional leaders, community activists, and families work in tandem to address the opportunity gaps that cause disparities in achievement.  That was the focus of my undergraduate research; it’s the mission of Urban Prep Academy; and it will be the focus of  my studies at the University of Pennsylvania, which would not have been possible without help from TeachersBox.

TBox: What role did TeachersBox play in your undergraduate research project?

WM: Mikael Davis, a William and Mary alumnus and Chief Academic Officer of TeachersBox LLC, has mentored me for the past three years.  He gave me a number of resources for my research proposal and suggested that I research how teachers differentiate instruction to mitigate the 14 home, school, and societal correlates of educational achievement which demonstrate clear gaps between students from low-income and higher income families.

TeachersBox also made several recommendations that improved the research proposal and reviewed my personal statements for graduate school to strengthen my application packets. They facilitated my application to the Urban Prep Academy and walked me through the application. TeachersBox also supported my application for a Starting Bloc fellowship.

TBox: Thank you for stopping by to talk with us Will.  We wish you all the best as you conclude your work at Urban Prep. Do you have any closing thoughts?

WM: I strongly believe that families need a comprehensive network of support to arrest known risk factors in the home, the school, and the community that negatively impact student achievement.  Having participated in three TeachersBox conferences and receiving your services first-hand, I think your work equipping students and parents with academic readiness tools and college preparation strategies is essential to closing the achievement gap and I look forward to partnering with you for years to come.

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