Marisha Ash, a woman of prodigious talent and incredible flair, was born and raised in the Madison area, living in Fitchburg, Verona, and Madison’s North and East sides. After graduating from Verona High School, Ash received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Edgewood College in 2016. While attending Edgewood, she was a tutor for the Boys and Girls Club of Madison, the Finance Chair for the Student Government Association, a Community Scholar, and the President of Edgewood’s Black Student Union. Ash has worked as a self-employed tutor and a fourth and fifth-grade summer school teacher at Madison’s Falk Elementary School. Ms. Ash has attended numerous conferences and conventions, including the National Council on Educating Black Children Convention, the National Alliance of Black School Educators Conference, the Minority Student Achievement Network Institute, and the Wisconsin Statewide Mathematics Institute. Ash was hired in 2016 at Kromrey Middle School as the Student Engagement Specialist, where she continues to make a tremendous impact on the Madison and Middleton Communities.
The Cardinal Chronicle: What inspired you to become a Student Engagement Specialist?
Marisha Ash: I didn’t wake up one day and decide to become a Student Engagement Specialist. In college, I had my mind set on going into the STEM field, because my passion has always been math. Then about two and a half, three years into my studies, I decided that I wanted to work with kids. I couldn’t find a good intersection of STEM and children, outside of being a Math teacher. I was working with a group of students at West High School, who I tutored for many years and they helped push me to believe I wanted to be in education. I finished my last couple of years in college with a Math degree. I wanted to do math teaching, but because I had changed my major so late in the game, it would have taken me a really long time to get a math teaching degree. So, I just did math and went back to the Master's program in education to get my teaching license. Out of college, I knew I wanted to do something in education -- not necessarily a Student Engagement Specialist -- but I knew that until I got my teaching license, I needed to find a buffer job in between undergrad and becoming a math teacher. I was looking for positions that could really highlight the work I had done in college and enjoyed doing. I was extremely involved on campus and did a lot of advocacy work, and teacher prep work. Even as an undergraduate student, I was talking to faculty, and training the faculty in various areas. I was hoping to find a job that kind of mimicked that because that’s where I felt my experience really laid. When I found this job as a Student Engagement Specialist that really resembled advocacy, that was the number one thing. I felt like I was the perfect person to be an advocate in a school district, especially in a school district that was similar to the same school I came from. That’s kind of how I landed into this role.
TCC: What sparked your interest in Social Justice and Activism?
MA: My personal experience in the school setting was primarily in college, when I began getting heavily involved in advocacy and social justice work. I was a sophomore in college I believe, a sophomore or a junior, and I was super involved with the Black Student Union, which was a student organization on campus. I was constantly in the community with a lot of other people who were passionate about improving the dynamics on campus for Black students. And I think the upperclassmen in that group, really inspired me to recognize that the conditions in which we maneuver, don’t always have to be this way. Like when we’re experiencing something negative, we have a voice, and our voice cannot only change our own experiences but other peoples experiences as well for the better. I think once my peers helped me realize that in college, I started looking closer at my experiences to learn about what I wanted to change about my experiences, finding the intersectionality between my experience and my peer's experience, and how can I simultaneously advocate for both. That’s really where my passion started. Working in the college and high schools helped me realize that I was most passionate about improving the dynamics of the environment of students of color in schools.
TCC: I understand you are the founder and adviser of the Kromrey Middle School Black Girl Magic Club.
MA: [Smiling] Yes.
TCC: What is Black Girl Magic?
"We’re really trying to hone in on the beauty within them, and how they can bring that out so that they are maneuvering through life proud of who they are, aware that there are so many other people like them, and they’re not isolated."
MA: Black Girl Magic has various definitions, as I have found. I have asked the girls in the group that question multiple times, and it’s kind of like, open up to Black girls own interpretation. It is not Black girls doing magic tricks, I’ve gotten that before. But to me, it’s a movement, it’s like this nationwide movement that acknowledges the contributions that Black girls bring to the world, and the impact they have on society. The inner-magic that is within all of them that comes out in different forms. Through the club, we really try to remind the girls of that, reminding them of all of these amazing people they come from -- as far as their Black history. We’re really trying to hone in on the beauty within them, and how they can bring that out so that they are maneuvering through life proud of who they are, aware that there are so many other people like them, and they’re not isolated. There’s actually a lot of amazing people who look just like them doing tremendous things in the world. Just that exposure is really important, and giving them the confidence, and the empowerment they need to do whatever they need to do whatever it is they set out to accomplish in the world.
TCC: Why did you choose to start the Black Girl Magic Club, and what do you hope the club achieves?
MA: A part of my role at Kromrey is looking at the district's data and the achievement gap. On the achievement gap, you see a clear racial gap, where our African-American students are performing nowhere near as well as our white counterparts. My job is to come up with interventions and initiatives that specifically address students who fall within the bottom of the achievement gap. The data is not dissected by race and gender; so it doesn’t tell me where Black girls fall on the data specifically. But it does tell me that there needs to be some targeted support that is different than what we have been doing all this time, specific to African-American students. That’s where my role came from, this is my second year at Kromrey, and after being here for a year, I have realized that the needs of the girls are very different than the needs of the boys. The girls kind of naturally migrate towards me, I think, just because they identify with me quicker than the boys do. And I felt like I could be most effective in my role if I created more gender-specific initiatives, rather than trying to do large group initiatives. We all know the experience as a boy, and a girl is different, and so I think the experience of Black girls and Black boys are very different in the building and have very different needs, and it would be more useful for me to address those needs in a gender-specific way. Then I was connected with someone from UW-Madison, who’s in the doctoral program, who had already been doing programs in the Madison schools with Black girls specifically, support group style. Once I connected with her, we came up with this idea together. What would a support group for Black girls look like at Kromrey? The overall goal, which we won’t see in the first year, but instead overtime, is that I want the club to achieve improved math and literacy scores -- whatever the state test is on -- primarily math and literacy scores. The long-term goal is that that achievement gap gets smaller. The short-term goals are that girls see a more positive representation of themselves, and build high levels of confidence, and have a strong understanding of who they are.
TCC: What do you believe should be done about the the racial disparities in education in the United States education system?
"Something I say all the time is if you want better, you’ve gotta do something different."
MA: That’s a really big question. Well, my first answer is that we have to do something different. Obviously, what we’re doing isn’t working; because just like the achievement gap exists here in Middleton; it exists in the state, and it exists in the United States. So, something we’re doing is wrong, and I don’t feel like I have the answer to that. But I feel like there’s a lot of different people, doing extremely innovative things that are working in smaller environments. I think about a charter school in Chicago, that completely defies all the stereotypes about Black boys. You have a high school that is 100% Black boys and you have a 100% graduation rate, a 100% move on to college rate, and they have really high test scores. Like, that is something you don’t see in most schools. But they’re doing something different. I feel like, in order for us to get a different result, because of racial disparities we see today aren’t anything new, they’ve just kind of been consistent, and sometimes they ignored and sometimes they’re highlighted. For us to get a different result, we have to try different things, and as long as we keep doing the things we’ve been doing; we’re going to get the same results. Something I say all the time is if you want better, you’ve gotta do something different. This applies to racial disparities on a large scale - if you want to address them, you have to be innovative and make sure the people that you want to impact have a voice at the table. Because if I, a Black woman, wants to improve the experience for Black boys, well, I’m not a Black boy. I kind of need to listen to Black boys and give them a voice at the table before I just go out and try to do something. Making sure you’re being innovative in your approach, but also including the people you want to impact in the decision making.
TCC: I am aware that you are also the founder and adviser of the Kromrey Middle School Hip-Hop Club.
MA: [Smiling] Yes.
TCC: Why did you choose to start the KMS Hip-Hop Club, and what do you hope this club achieves?
MA: Well, in my first year in this role, last year, I had to really put myself out there to the students and staff members, this role had never existed before. It was a brand new role to the entire district, and I was a brand new face to my building. I had to come up with ways to get out there and get to know students, and hip-hop club was a result of that. I was visiting a lot of classrooms in the first couple of months of being here, and really asking students, what is something that you don’t already have in this building? I mean, we’re in like, the Taj Mahal, in this beautiful building, where you have tons of opportunities. So I would ask: What don’t you have? What you would want? And the two things that came out of that were a hip-hop dance and a basketball team. Well, I’m like, I have no sense of coordination whatsoever, and I know nothing about basketball, so I decided to create the Hip-Hop Club. This really came from an eighth-grade student last year, who was very vocal about it and really took the recruiting component on her own, as far as getting girls involved. I just got a choreographer, and we just started meeting. We started meeting, and it evolved and gained a lot of attraction last year. Then this year when I rolled it out, the numbers doubled -- as far as the girls who were participating. Now, we even have Glacier Creek Middle School girls coming over to join us at Kromrey when we meet for hip-hop dance. It’s not just a Kromrey Hip-Hop dance team anymore; It’s more of like a Middle School Hip-Hop dance team. Unfortunately, we don’t have any boys, so it’s all girls. But, I think my main thing in accomplishing that at first, was just to get to know the students and allow an opportunity for students to get to know me. Now, I just want it to be like a fun outlet for students who really enjoy Hip-Hop dancing because it’s a unique style of dance. For us to really have the opportunity to dig into Hip-Hop culture and have fun while doing it, I think that’s my biggest goal.
TCC: How do you believe Hip-Hop relates to Social Justice and Activism?
"I think that at the root of Hip-Hop, is social justice, in itself."
MA: That’s another deep question. Well, I think that the root of Hip-Hop started from young Black and Latino kids trying to find their voice in the world, and bring attention to the oppression they were facing. When you look back, even when you think of Tupac, who’s a rap star, everything he rapped about was about his experiences in the hood. When you look back to a lot of famous rap stars who have passed away, it’s all about bringing voice to their experiences and speaking out about the injustices; and doing it in an extremely fun and creative way. I think that at the root of Hip-Hop, is social justice, in itself. Because those who created it, were trying to bring attention to the things they wanted to see change, and that is social justice, in itself. It's grown, into a lot of different things, but I think it is extremely easy to use Hip-Hop as a way to bring light to many different social justice issues. And some teachers actually do that here at Kromrey; I know a couple of them use a Hip-Hop curriculum to kind of highlight social justice. So, I think they’re almost one in the same.
TCC: At Edgewood College, you were the President of the Black Student Union.
MA: Yes, I was, during my last couple years there.
TCC: How did your experience as the President of Edgewood’s BSU influence who you are today?
"I think BSU helped me find my voice, BSU helped me find my passion, and BSU helped me build the network that I have today."
MA: I think who I am today, is a direct result of Edgewood’s Black Student Union. I think BSU helped me find my voice, BSU helped me find my passion, and BSU helped me build the network that I have today. When I was in College, the first leadership opportunity I had taken was through BSU, and we did some amazing things together that got us a lot of publicity on campus. Then, all of these other leadership opportunities were thrown out to me, because of my leadership through BSU. The entire Black Student Union was just very passionate about everything, and extremely creative, and extremely supportive. I think without Edgewood’s Black Student Union, I wouldn’t have been as successful in college because it was not only my support group but also my number one leadership opportunity. When I look back, or even when I reference all of the leadership skills I have today like that started in college through Black Student Union. It has impacted me in more ways than one, and I even still go back and hang. Even though I’ve been gone for two years, I still go back and support the BSU events, because I just know how vital it was to my college experience and to shape me into who I am today.
TCC: At Edgewood you were also a Community Scholar. What is a Community Scholar, and what did your experience as one teach you?
". . . I prioritized the community over academics."
MA: A Community Scholar is a program that offers students, only three students a year, a full ride scholarship. You get all of your tuition paid for, and all of your books and materials for classes paid for. The community scholar part is really emphasized, so it’s not just a scholarship, you have to embody a scholar. You are expected to be at the top of your class, you're expected to be the overachiever on campus, and a leader in more capacities than one, and the expectation is that you're prioritizing your community at all times. It’s a very unique scholarship opportunity because when the interview process is happening, their very keenly looking for how you give back to your community. That is one of their number one priorities. Throughout the years, if you become a community scholar, there’s a community service hour requirement you are fulfilling every single month, and then there’s constant grade checks and academic supports because the term community scholar really embodies everything they expect you to be. Like, a strong community leader who’s constantly giving back, and a scholar, and a role model on campus, who is a hundred percent committed to their academics, and being the best learner possible. And that program really taught me how to balance the two. I wasn’t a community scholar all four years, I was actually in college for five years, so it took me five years to graduate, and the last two years, I was a community scholar, the first three I was not. The difference between my college experience the first three years and the last two was the first three; I prioritized the community over academics. It was almost like you had to choose, am I gonna be heavily involved on campus and take all these leadership opportunities, or am I not going to have a social life and commit to my studies. It was really hard for me to find a healthy balance, and because I was passionate and excited about the work I was doing, my academics kind of fell to the backburner. I wasn’t like your A+ student because I was so heavily involved on campus, and that’s what I wanted, that’s what I preferred. I was okay with getting the B’s and C’s, because I felt like I was doing so much for the community, and making a stronger impact that way. What Community Scholars forced me to do, was to find the balance between the two. And it said, you don’t have to choose, you can be both, and we’re going to help provide you the tools to be both. I think that was the largest takeaway I had from the program, that was the number one thing it taught me.
TCC: In an interview with The Capital City Hues, you discussed the lack of diversity at your alma mater Verona High School. What importance do you believe diversity has in schools?
"Hearing different perspectives, opinions and experiences really enrich the education that students are receiving -- and it’s priceless."
MA: Oh, that’s a good question. Without diversity, you are almost robbing students of a holistic experience. And by that I mean, if you go to school and everyone looks like you, everyone has the exact same experiences as you, or very similar experiences as you, you all live in similar neighborhoods, have similar family structures, come from the same culture, you have no idea what the rest of the world looks like. And you have no exposure to it because everything that you read in a book isn’t true. You can’t learn about other people a hundred percent, without ever seeing them. I think if you don’t have any diversity in a school specifically, where you are teaching kids about the world around them, it’s almost like you’re doing a disservice because they’re not even seeing the world around them. And so, I think diversity is imperative to building the next generation’s leaders. Because they have to know and understand the world around them, and the best way they can do that is being exposed to the world around them. When you have ten people in the same classroom who all come from different family structures, who all look different, who all have different upbringings, who all live in different neighborhoods, the conversations that come out of that in a classroom is far more dynamic than the conversations that come from ten kids, who come from similar households, all look the same, all grew up the same and are from the same neighborhood. Hearing different perspectives, opinions and experiences really enrich the education that students are receiving -- and it’s priceless. And I think that is a vital component to building the world’s future leaders.
TCC: You have accomplished a lot. What accomplishments have made you feel most proud?
MA: That’s a good question. What accomplishments make me feel most proud? I think graduating with a math degree is definitely number one. Growing up in high school, specifically at Verona, I was always the only Black girl in my advanced math classes. I never connected with anyone that had similar interests in math that looked like me or had similar experiences as me. And so that was really hard, and when I got to college, I almost ran away from that. I wanted to see more people that looked like me in my career path, so I almost ran away from something that I really, really enjoyed, just because I wasn’t comfortable in that environment. But my family really pushed me to hang onto that, and see the value in that, as well as my teachers at Edgewood. When I run into people today, they’re always like, “oh my gosh you’re a math major, like I’m bad at math,” that’s the number one thing people say all the time; that they’re bad at math. But I’m a firm believer that you’re only bad at math if you tell yourself you’re bad at math, because it’s all in your head, it’s like a mindset thing. But I just feel like I did something, by graduating college with a math degree, I did something that I had told myself for a very long time I couldn’t do, or I shouldn’t do, because it’s uncomfortable. But I felt like it was a unique interest of mine that I had to hold onto, and so I made my family really proud by doing that, and myself really proud by doing that. I think that would be my number one accomplishment. Not graduating from college, but graduating with a math degree.
TCC: What are your long term goals? What do you see yourself doing next?
MA: My long-term career goal is to be a superintendent one day. That is like the end all, be all. I want to retire as a superintendent, and then build a charter school. That’s like 20-30 years from now, but what I see next is me being a math teacher. I was in the graduate program at Edgewood for education, getting my teaching license, and when I realized it wasn’t really meeting my needs, I kind of dropped out of that and have been actively looking for other graduate programs. And so my next move is to enroll in graduate school somewhere else and follow the path of becoming a math teacher.
TCC: As we reach the end of our interview, is there anything you wish I had asked you? Or is there anything you want people to know about you?
"The one thing about me that I hope people always understand from working with me or kind of get out of a conversation with me is that I am all about advocating for underrepresented students."
MA: The one thing about me that I hope people always understand from working with me or kind of get out of a conversation with me is that I am all about advocating for underrepresented students. Giving voice to people who haven’t had a voice in the past, always has and always will be my number one passion. If I can do that in the math realm, where I’m bringing voice to women and women of color specifically, who are often underrepresented in the STEM fields, that is like the ultimate goal. So, through my role for the rest of my career, I will consistently advocate and help students find the best versions of themselves. I feel blessed to have this role right now as it really gives me the flexibility to do that. As a Student Engagement Specialist, I tell kids all the time, when they ask me what I do, or what I am, I tell them: I am the combination of your mom, your favorite auntie, your teacher, and a counselor. Because it’s just so well rounded; I really do a lot of different things. But the one thing I can say I do with every single kid is to try to help them find the best version of themselves, and figure out what that looks like. I think that’s it.
TCC: Thank you so much for your time! It is greatly appreciated.