Rashon & I just launched our teacher vlog project: The Post-Assessment.

What: The education before the pandemic did not serve many students well. Let’s start a conversation on what works and what doesn’t.

Send us video (or audio) of you sharing your experiences and ideas.

Our first prompt asks for teachers to tell how and when their school was shut down in March, but we welcome you to voice any ideas around education.

About: Teaching was always a challenge. Then came 2020: a pandemic, political implosions, and a reckoning with systematic racism.

Here, two seasoned teachers invite colleagues to tell us like it is – and what they envision it could be.

• 

We are finally, officially in post-production for a short film on Tomaro. Our editor is delivering the 2nd cut this week and am really excited to continue the process.

And, we will be really excited for our premiere (TBD).

In the meantime, here is a screenshot from the first cut.

• 

We are excited to announce that our new trailer is ready and will be available to our collaborators and supporters this weekend!

Additionally, we have renamed our film; Tomaro: Knowledge is Power to honor the Tomaro Secondary Schools’ alma mater, “Knowledge is Power.”

We are grateful that Dr. Chima Korieh of Marquette University shared the last day of his Thanksgiving holiday to interview with us for the film. As a professor and author of West African studies, he provided us with a strong historical context on education in Nigeria and a vision for greater success.

Dr. Korieh and Dena had a particularly engaging on-camera conversation as they are both school founders; Dr. Korieh founded and leads a private school in Imo, Nigeria, his home state.

Thank you, Ryan McCarthy, he joined our team as our editor; with his dedication and that of the rest of the crew; we are near the final cut of our 9 minute sizzler.

We are fortunate to have a talented editor join our team and we are moving forward with a fresh new 5-minute teaser; we can’t wait for our supporters to see it!

Also, we just filmed a new interview with Dena and are planning an interview with a professor of Nigerian studies that will help give context to the film.

As always, we thank you because your support helps us to make this film happen.

Thanks to a dedicated and enthusiastic team in the States and Nigeria, we are putting together all the details for the next phases of filming.

Our document drives are filling up with treatments and charts and our message apps are constantly active as we create our plans.

And, in case you have not seen it on social media, here is a video thank you message from Dena.

 

 

Now that the graduation is over, our crew in Nigeria and the States, are looking back fondly through photos and film and the simple act of recounting our memories together.

We shared a wonderful week with our friends in Tomaro and we are extremely grateful for their gracious hospitality, the joy we shared in celebrating the schools’ achievements and the community’s excitement for the film.

Fortunately, we have captured many beautiful moments in our hearts – and for our film.

Thank you for your support because YOU help to make our trip possible; I can’t wait to relive the week through our new footage because we believe it is really going to make Tomaro’s story shine on the silver screen.

Last but not least, I am overwhelmed by our crew’s dedication, hard work, creativity and the joy each team member added to our travels. Check out the photos below to see most of our crew.

With sincere gratitude,

Kimberly Cecchini, Director/Producer

Photo by Dena Grushkin.

Photo by Dena Grushkin.