Students and alumni. , honoredshed trustees guests, faculty, staff, family and friends, it is a pleasure to be here with you today and a true honor to be a part of todays celebration. Graduating class of 2017, a big congratulations. You first stepped foot on this campus during her freshman year, you could not believe how fast this day would come. And believe me, life only gets faster from here on out after todays celebration. The 2017 graduating class of the university of alabama in huntsville is made up of some 853 outstanding men and women who have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. The students have achieved countless honors and recognition in research, academics, the arts, and athletics. Some of the most recent accolades received by members of you a age include students by members of uah include those receiving prestigious recognitions like the following. Being named First National oceanic and atmospheric scholar, winning first place at the National Organization f
So we will go ahead and start our next panel so that we can keep on time. Be as efficient as we can. Welcome to the second panel of the day. This panel is entitled where are we now . Our panelists today will be a resident scholar of the American Enterprise institute. He has been the education commissioner of florida, and president of black lines for Educational Options. Dr. Greg forster is the director sorry, cant get it right. Network at the center for informational churches at Trinity International university. He was formally at the Friedman Foundation for educational choice. He is the author of six books and the coauthor of three additional books. He received his phd with distinction from yale university. The founder and ceo of Digital Pioneers Academy which i learned was just recently was it yesterday . A week ago was given approval to open up a charter and 2018 in washington dc. [applause] prior to that, she served as ceo of the Network Charter school fund. And the executive chart
And with that, we will wrap up the panel. Thank you for all of our panelists being here today. [applause] [chatter] we will go ahead and bring up our next panel so we can keep on time. Welcome to the second panel of the day. This is entitled where are we now, a conversation about educational opportunity. We will have a scholar from the institute,ucational the generic secretary of dr. Gregnd forester, he is currently at the current foundation. He authored six books and book. Hored an additional he received his phd at yale university. Ceo of digitale pioneers academy. Yesterday they were given approval to open up a charter in washington, d. C. [applause] executive director for , and she started as a special Education Teacher as well. The stories you heard in the last panel, and the discussion you heard, we want to discuss and review the data as it relates to education, educational opportunity. Where are we, what does the data tell us . What are the issues we have to deal with. Gerrard wi
Until it gets into our heads. Thank you. So with that, we will wrap up the panel. And thank you to all of our panelists for being here today. [ applause ] so well go ahead and start our next panel. So that we can keep on time. Be as efficient as we can. Welcome to the second panel of the day. This panel is entitled where are we now. A conversation on Educational Opportunity and integration. Our panelest today will be gerard robinson. He has been in the education commissioner of florida. The virginia secretary of education. So gerard has a long history in education. Dr. Greg fors ter is the director of Trinity International university. He is a senior fellow at ed choice and is at the Freedman Foundation for educational choice. And he received his ph. D. With distinction at yale university. Mashea ashton is, just recently given its approval to open up a charter in 2018 in washington, d. C. She served as the ceo of the Network Charter school fund. The Senior Adviser for Charter School pol
I think that the United States, we are positioned to be on the cuts edge where communities are not ethnically exclusive. Thats historically new. Its not something you find as you look back in history. Im very excited to help position us on a new kind of organizing society where communities are not ethnically bounded. I think its a great thing for School Choice to be doing. Thank you very much. Let me start here by saying thank you for inviting me to this wonderful conversation. As i was thinking about this panel i reflected on my own personal, how i even got here. I have an identical twin sister we were in new jersey which is a majority white community. My family had just moved out of philadelphia and they wanted a Better School option for us. My mother took us out of Public School and put us into private school. I think that has made all of the difference for us and its why im a huge proponent. I think every parent should be able to choose what school or what environment, like how do