My name is Jacques P. Lesure and I am a member of GEDI 19 (CREEators) and a Peer Navigator for GEDI 20. I now hold a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the last two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with teams across the National Science Foundation, primarily the Historically Black College and Universities Undergraduate Program, whose goal is to stimulate the STEM education and research ecosystem at HBCUs.
I’ve had a wonderful experience working alongside program officers, data analysts, and other talented people who have been driven by the mission of creating equitable educational outcomes. At first, I had the tough concern of learning about what small piece of such a big agency that I would be tasked with learning and contributing to. I had to give myself grace as I learned acronyms, read through solicitations and logic models, and also managed my final two years as a graduate student who would soon be graduating.
Lesson Learned
Through my GEDI experience, I learned that “slow and steady wins the race”. The more I settled into the fact that my learning arc would be over months, and not weeks, I was able to give myself more grace and patience. Oftentimes, I would assume that I was learning too slowly or not catching on quick enough. However, this was extremely wrong.
Once I extended myself grace, I was able to see that in fact, I was making more of a contribution than I had imagined. By doing my best and refusing perfectionism, I was eventually able to understand that I was over prepared for meetings! I’d often have to scale back or table agenda items for a later date. Instead, I focused on building buy-in and consensus with each step I took. Instead of moving fast, I sought to move deeper. This shift resulted in me being able to influence HBCU-UP in ways I hadn’t imagined, as we worked together to do important work.
Had I not been mindful of capacity, I may have missed the opportunity to make sustainable progress that would impact the team even beyond my time working with them. By remembering that less is more, I can feel confidence about the contributions I’ve made, as well as HBCU-UP’s ongoing ability to do the work of influencing equitable educational outcomes.
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