August 23, 2024

Dear GEC family,

We hope everyone’s summer has been going well. We are looking forward to the start of SY 24-25, GEC’s ninth year in operation! This last SY we celebrated 116 graduates, bringing our total GEC alumni community to 692 amazing graduates! Today I am writing to share with you some updates and reminders around the start of the School Year.

The new school year begins on Wednesday, August 28th and we are excited to see you then! When you arrive at your school site, you’ll receive your class schedule, meet with your coach and any other GEC team member to ensure all of your documents are in for Term 1.

Important Dates:

  • Monday, August 26th and Tuesday, August 27th – You will receive outreach from your coach about your schedule. If you have any questions about your schedule, communicate this to your coach so adjustments can be made.
  • Wednesday, August 28th – The first day of classes for Term 1. Report to the school location where your coach is for your schedule and to begin classes! You will be able to meet with your coach to review and adjust your schedule too.
  • Wednesday, September 11th – All Student Town Hall at 11:30am to share updates about the current School Year and introduce GEC staff.
  • Thursday, October 17th – The last day of Term 1.

If you have questions about where you should report to this week, please contact your Academic Success Coach. If you are unsure of who your Academic Success Coach is, please contact the following Lead Academic Success Coaches at each site:

If you have any questions regarding your transcript, please contact our Registrar, Ms. Ashley McBarnette at Ashely.McBarnette@goodwillexcelcenter.org or 202-839-3676.

If you have any questions regarding your enrollment documents, please contact our Enrollment Specialist, Deven Mack at Deven.Mack@goodwillexcelcenter.org or 202-441-7584.

This School Year, we are excited to welcome several new team members to our GEC community, and we cannot wait for you to meet them! During our student town hall, we will introduce them to everyone and provide updates as to which teachers are serving each campus and which team members operate across our campuses. Additionally, we are excited to partner with some fantastic DC community resources to provide even more resources to support you as a GEC student. We will be sharing much more information about these resources upon your return this week!

We look forward to seeing everyone this week as we begin SY 24-25! We are excited to welcome back our returning students and to welcome our new students to the GEC community. It’s going to be a tremendous year. On the next page of this letter, you’ll see some important information about GEC staff at each site and contract information. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chelsea Kirk
Executive Director
Chelsea.Kirk@goodwillexcelcenter.org
(202)-263-9725

GEC Staff Campus List

We will share instructor information during the Town Hall and a full site list of staff members and their roles.

1776 G Street NW Site

Tom Pengelly – Director
Tom.Pengelly@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Yema Gbondo – Lead Coach
Yema.Gbondo@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Queneia Harley-Burkeen – Lead Teacher
Queneia.Harley-Burkeen@goodwillexcelcenter.org

N’Jyria Sutton – Office Manager
N’Jyria.Sutton@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Academic Success Coaches:

Salome Kingston-Williams
Salome.Kingston-Williams@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Gianni Pearson
Gianni.Pearson@goodwillexelcente.org

Kenjuan Garnett
Kenjuan.garnett@goodwillexcelcenter.org

1201 Maryland Ave SW Site

LaToya Hill – Director
LaToya.Hill@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Matthew Avery – Lead Coach
Matthew.Avery@goodwillexcelcenter.org

DaShawn Archer – Lead Teacher
DaShawn.Archer@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Dawn Rhodes – Senior Office Manager
Dawn.Rhodes@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Academic Success Coaches:

Roshawne Harrod
Roshawne.Harrod@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Derek Daniels
Derek.Daniels@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Alexia Jones
Alexia.Jones@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Other GEC Staff Members for Support Across Both Campuses

Deven Mack – Enrollment Specialist
Deven.Mack@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Ashley McBarnette – Registrar
Ashely.McBarnette@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Vershaun Terry – Manager of Special Education
Vershaun.Terry@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Nate Benham – College and Career Readiness Manager
Nate.Benham@goodwillexcelcenter.org

Demetri Tyler – Sr. Manager Data & Accountability
Demetri.Tyler@goodwillexcelcenter.org