Inclusion & Liberated Spaces

Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz

Oral Historian and Co-Host

• About Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz
• Dr. Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz’s website

Rachel Murray

Theatre Teacher/Arts Coordinator

Rachel Murray is currently in her 18th year as a public school dance teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree in dance and dance education from Empire State College, where she was a recipient of the Richard Porter Leach Fellowship for Performing Artists, and her MFA in dance at UT Austin. She danced with Betty Jones’s Dances We Dance in Honolulu, HI, The Mark Morris Dance Group in Brussels, Belgium, and New York City, NY, and The Aztlan Dance Company in Austin, TX. She currently teaches at Elk Plain School of Choice, K–8. Rachel’s Action Research for CAN is focused on transformative SEL, whereby students explore aspects of their identity, through dance, as a process to deepen understanding of self and others.

Malissa Baker

Music Teacher

Currently in her 25th year as a music educator, Malissa teaches orchestra and chorus at Buffalo Creek Middle School in Manatee County, FL. She is certified in Music Education K–12 with both ESOL and Reading Endorsements. She has been named a High Impact Teacher by the Commissioner of Education, she has been a panelist and presenter at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Pre-Conference in 2019, and she has had the privilege of working on the Florida Music Education Association (FMEA) Emerging Leader Committee with Chairperson Dré Graham.