Introducing: The Starting Line
(STK’s Official Newsletter)
Welcome New STK Director
BIANCA BROWN, M.E D.
Bianca Brown joins STK Sports Academy as its new Executive Director in Sierra Leone who will be responsible for overseeing the organization’s educational enrichment program, developing programs and collaborating with STK’s leadership team to implement the strategic vision and growth. Bianca is the founder of Scholastic Revolutionary Mission LLC. an international consulting business where she provided educational consulting services in Saudi Arabia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the United States.
With nearly 15 years in the field of education and two years of career advising. she spent most of her career working as a social studies teacher, Special Education Specialist (ESE) and homeschool instructor, and an advocate for education for marginalized families in America. She has also worked as a homeschool expert. and Educational Advocate for marginalized families.
Bianca is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from North Central University and has a Masters in Secondary Education from Nova South Eastern University.
In addition to overseeing the STK enrichment program in Sierra Leone, Bianca will also be providing professional development training opportunities to the staff and volunteers. With her passion for education and advocacy work, we are excited to officially welcome her to the STK family!
LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
HOW PLAYING
INCREASES
COGNATIVE
DEVELOPMENT
As the newly appointed Executive Director of STK in Sierra Leone, Bianca Brown is hitting the ground running. She is setting out to increase the educational development of the children being served by building on the mission of STK that combines sports and education for young children. providing sports and educational services to the children. One of the best ways to naturally supporting children to explore play. Learning through play helps develop social and cognitive development in children.
Learning through play is very important in early childhood development. It’s long-term benefits include:
Develops social and cognitive skills
Builds self-confidence
Inspires creative thinking
Improves problem solving
Cultivates emotional maturity
Encourages team building
Overall learning through play allows children to foster essential social skills needed to develop a sense of self while also being understanding towards others. STK will continue to support these efforts by introducing brain games. interactive STEM/STEAM programs, interest based clubs and sports!
Addressing a pandemic: Old lessons, New lessons.
Over the past few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed lives all over the world. Our new normal is indefinite quarantines and social distancing. People have become more aware of how we communicate with each other. Hugs and handshakes have turned into elbow touches, feet taps, or simple nods.
In some countries, people are mandated to cover their mouths and noses when out in public. However, what happens in a community when face masks are scarce?
A community takes action.
As part of STK’s mission, our goal is to leave a lasting legacy of opportunity and wellness for our community. With that in mind, we are very proud to announce that we have partnered with Margaret Kadi, and her company Pangea, to produce face masks to distribute to essential workers, including the Mountain Cut area of Freetown where we currently run our programs. These essential workers will include the Eastern Police Station, health clinics, and street cleaning crew.
Mrs. Kadi transformed her interior design factory to produce cloth face masks using CDC specifications. “Seeing how countries like the United States were running out of masks, I wasn’t sure what the state of mask inventory was here in Sierra Leone, so I just wanted to be ready,” said Margaret, who operates Pangea from her home in Freetown.
“I also wanted to see what I could do for the underserved communities who could be hard hit if this virus spreads here,” Mrs. Kadi added, “so it was a great pleasure when Neneh Diallo (STK Advisory Council Member) reached out to me the very next day with the partnership proposition --it was a no-brainer for me.”
Impacting lives.
In addition to the face masks, STK has already launched health campaigns to educate the community on the importance of hand washing, proper techniques for coughing and sneezing, and social distancing. STK distributed 20 large water buckets with soap dispensers at different locations around the community, including the Eastern police station and the Annie Walsh Secondary School.
Hope for the future.
Currently, cases of COVID-19 are slowly increasing, and as an organization that serves our children, families and community at large, we will continue to be a part of the efforts by providing preventative education to ensure Mountain Cut remains safe and healthy.
Thanks to Neneh Diallo for sponsoring the productions of the masks.
If you would like more information about our work, or if you are interested in making a contribution to support our efforts, please visit www.stksportsacademy.org.
Thierno Diallo
Founder & Executive Director