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Company
Essentials Educational Services began 25 years ago as a day care service program providing quality before, during and after school care to children of all ages. It has since evolved to include an entire range of services and products as listed above and in this web-site.
Renay I. Ingram, M.Ed., C.A.G.S., NBCT, Director Cleo Darcia Graham, Nurse Practitioner Sabir J. Johnson, B.S., M.S. - Music Engineer and Technical Support Dhafir J. Johnson, Sr. - Photographer Dhafir J. Johnson, Jr. - Web Designer Mansour J. Johnson, Writer-Poet Scroll down the page.
Renay Intisar Ingram, M.Ed., C.A.G.S. and NBCT, is a reading specialist in the Springfield, Massachusetts school system, publisher/owner of Essentials Educational Services and Products, coordinator of the teacher mentoring program in her school, Chestnut Accelerated Middle School for the Visual and Performing Arts and a studio art leader for the Springfield Library and Museums Association where she has been affiliated for nearly twenty-six years. She has been an educator for more than twenty years beginning her journey as a Day Care Provider and free-lance writer, working from home, while her own children were young. Educational curriculum - For the city of Springfield’s school system she has contributed to curriculums and manuals on East Africa, community service learning, multicultural education, and language arts/reading. Such topics as African studies, diversity awareness, and reading recovery frequent her discussions and writings. How to Make Your Own African-American Scrapbook (See draft) is a self-published manual for teachers based on her own classroom techniques. Students read self-selected African-American biographies from various sources to teach self-discovery, motivation, and self-esteem. A Michael Jordan grant enabled her to publish a book of poems by her talented sixth-grade students entitled “The Many Different Faces of Poetry.” Some were contributed to the public library. (See sample) She has been completing a poetry project with her students for the last six years. She was a regular contributor to the Muslim Journal and Focus Magazine, Bottom Line, New Contact, and Springfield Journal have published her poems or news articles. Awards and Recognitions - Mrs. Ingram is the recipient of two statewide honors. “Global Educator of the Year” and the prestigious “Teacher’s Incentive” awards. She is a nationally board certified teacher (by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards) in English Language Arts and was recognized this November in Atlanta, GA by the National Association of Black School Educators (NABSE). Completing the arduous yearlong process required to obtain a national board certification status “was one of the most useful and professionally fulfilling experiences of my teaching career.” Ingram was also one of fourteen teachers selected nationally to work on a project called Digital Edge in which accomplished teachers integrate technology in their classrooms, document the results and share them on an interactive website. . Apple Computers is sponsoring this project along with ISTE. Scholastic and Mrs. Ingram - This year Renay became a Read 180 teacher and now knows how to successfully integrate technology into the classroom from a reading recovery point of view. She has also become sensitive to the importance of its impact on reluctant readers. To this end her classroom and has become more involved in Scholastic’s many great projects such as ClassroomCares, and Read 2003. She has been given the permission to include a Scholastic banner on her business website at http://www.eesplus.com. Ingram’s classes have been ordering Scholastic products for many years and loves the A magazine. Travel - As a Fulbright-Hays scholarship recipient, she has traveled to East Africa’s Kenya and Tanzania. Primary Source of Boston sponsored the trip. She was one of twenty to travel to Mainland China. Other tours have included Egypt, Morocco, the Caribbean, Thailand, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Canada.
Diane Makini Bilal
is a professional, full-time artist living
in New Haven, Connecticut. She studied at Temple University’s Tyler
School of Art. Makini’s love of health and healing led her into
alternate professional routes. She worked for 10 years as a surgical
technician at Saint Raphael's Hospital with renowned doctor Bernie
Siegel. She also worked as a dental hygienist for a great number of
years. Both occupations provided Makini with a keen perception of human
physiology, which proved useful when painting her popularly sought after
portraits. You will now find her working full-time in her own spacious
studio-loft to keep up with the tremendous demand for her commissioned
and pre-ordered paintings. Her business, Personal Touch Portraits,
has been very successful. Life-like portraits rendered in pencil,
pastel, acrylic, and oil are compellingly realistic, for Makini seems to
capture the soul of her clients. Her work has been exhibited at the
Jewish Community Center, Yale University, the downtown Mall, churches,
and community centers. She has chosen to also specialize in portrait
collage, restorative portraits of photos and memorial portraits.
Cleo Darcia Graham, RNP, BC, BSN, MN has been educated at Adelphi, Columbia and Brown Universities. She has worked in the health care profession for more than twenty-five years as a nurse, nurse practitioner, administrator, and professional development presenter. She travels extensively and even finds time to volunteer in Dominican Republic on behalf of needy patients. She is currently a nurse practitioner and administrator at the Veterans Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Mrs. Graham is the mother of two sons and has been married twenty-five years to Melvin Graham. She has two sons, Justin and Rafiq, both music composers. Cleo, who we prefer to think of as Doc. Graham is very active in her community having established a health clinic at her church. She also provides seminars for women's groups, and guidance to youngsters about health risks that primarily affect people of color. Cleo has many gifts as a healer but one of her very outstanding attributes can be found in her ability to verbally explain complicated and normally complex medical issues in a simple and understandable manner to her more than 300 plus clients a week. This method of attending to her patients empowers and motivates them to want to live healthier and more productive lives. Cleo is also a certified diabetes expert and has taught at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island. Cleo is the conceiver of the Mothers of Minority Males Organization (MOMA) which will have a resource website and resources soon and is a Trivita distributor.
The Tribute Drummers and Music Designers have been writing, performing and drumming for more than a decade. They are all college educated men who are avid tennis players. Hakim (the Dream) is a performing artist who resides in Jacksonville, Florida. Sabir (Notty) has a dual degree in science and physics and resides in Newark, New Jersey. Dhafir (New Hove) is a nursing student who works in geriatric care and Mansour is studying communications and is in his third year. As entrepreneurs they earnestly spend their time creating and writing music, designing web sites, and helping with the family business. Mr. Johnson, a photographer, is the business consultant. (Information on the Johnson men is archived at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum) in Springfield, MA. Sabir Johnson is the owner/founder of http://www.Nottydesigns.com and http://www.bidonbeats.com company. This music is an interesting blend of hip hop, smooth jazz and R&B and some of it is even suitable for movie scores.
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