Bright Minds was thrilled to welcome three community members to our Board of Directors recently. Each of these individuals brings valued experience, community relationships, and a deep commitment to supporting education in our community.
Mary Brzezinski is a retired educator who has worked for 46 years with disabled individuals, including 18 years as the Atholton High School (AHS) Transition Specialist. In this position, she supported all AHS students with disabilities and their families, developed community and building based work opportunities, provided resources for job training, job exploration and higher education and represented AHS at Howard County Public Schools community and business events. Brzezinski also served as a Future Educators Advisor, the largest FEA in Maryland, and developed partnerships with the Harriet Tubman Head Start organization and the Lazarus Foundation, providing computers for students.
She joined the board of the Bright Minds Foundation because she is eager to devote her time, energy, and knowledge of education and wants to help address important access gaps in support for children and families. Brzezinski is also interested in recruiting and coordinating volunteers and working with Bright Minds’ literacy and teacher grants programs.
Tonya Harris is a communications professional with 20 years of experience in strategic communications in the K-12 education field. She currently is the Director of Communications for the Council of the Great City Schools, the only national organization exclusively representing the needs of urban public schools. She is also a freelance editor and proofreader for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., the nation’s largest African American sorority.
When her son attended Wilde Lake High School she volunteered as a board member with the Boosters Club, serving as membership chair and creating the organization’s Twitter account. Harris is excited and honored to be elected as a board member for Bright Minds and looks forward to using her expertise in communications to increase awareness of the Foundation’s activities and programs and help the organization in its mission to enhance educational opportunities for all children in Howard County public schools.
Alexandria Kim is a Korean American immigrant who came to the United States 32 years ago. She studied visual communication, worked in the administrative field for more than 25 years, and is currently working at a local Korean newspaper as a reporter covering the Washington metro area.
As the mother of a child with mild autism, Kim can attest better than anyone that it does take a whole village to raise a child. At countless times, not only the teachers but the entire HCPSS community guided and paved the way for her family. But she has also witnessed that there are numerous families who are having difficulties finding an ideal ground that is most suitable for their needs, regardless of disabilities or not. Kim hopes that by becoming a Bright Minds board member she will be able to contribute to narrowing the gap between families and the school system.
“Access to learning is something that just grabs my heart,” said Kim. “It is the beginning and foundation of any grandeur. In the same sense, school readiness through Bright Minds’ reading program is also a candy store for me.”
