Keynote Speakers
Sam Seidel
Author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education
Sam Seidel is an education writer and consultant. His work focuses on developing and spreading innovative solutions for problems faced by schools, prisons, and community organizations. As an author, Sam writes for the Husslington Post, GOOD, and national education journals, and has contributed to several anthologies. His book, Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education, explores existing and potential intersections between hip-hop and education. As a consultant, Sam has worked for several national education organizations, including the Black Alliance for Educational Options, Big Picture Learning, Diploma Plus, Jobs for the Future, and the National Center on Time and Learning, as well as a spectrum of other clients on a diverse set of projects, ranging from redesigning a statewide juvenile justice system to working with the Rockefeller family to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Sam served as the Director of Annual Reviews and Partnerships for the Alternative High School Initiative, a national network of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded school development organizations, such as EdVisions and YouthBuild USA. Trained and certified as a high school Language Arts teacher, Sam has taught in a variety of settings—from first grade at a public elementary school to post-secondary courses in a state prison. Sam directed AS220 Broad Street Studio, a grassroots arts program for young people in and transitioning out of incarceration and was the founding director of the Maysles Institute’s youth documentary film program.
Sam currently serves on the boards of three organizations: AS220, a non-profit arts organization in Providence, RI; Operation Reach, a non-profit youth development organization in New Orleans, LA; and Resource Generation, a national non-profit that works with wealthy young people committed to social change. Sam holds a degree in Education History and Policy from Brown University.
To learn more, visit: hiphopgenius.org, husslingtonpost.com, and follow Sam on Twitter @husslington
