Mikva Challenge
Nikki Rucker, M.ED has a diverse range of work experience in education. Starting in 2008, they worked as a Teacher at North Lawndale College Prep until 2011. From 2011 to 2014, they served as the Leadership Coordinator/Teacher at the Young Women's Leadership Charter School of Chicago. In 2017, Nikki joined Mount Vernon Presbyterian School as a Teacher until 2019. During the same period, they also worked as an Instructional Coach at The Black Teacher Collaborative. In 2018, Nikki became the Senior Director of Professional Development and Partnerships at Mikva Challenge, and later advanced to the role of Director of Professional Learning and Partnerships. Additionally, Nikki Rucker is the Founder of THE MSK EXPERIENCE, where they served as the Executive Director from 2009 until 2019.
Nikki Rucker, M.ED has a Master's degree in Secondary Education and Teaching from Roosevelt University. Additionally, they hold a Master's degree in Adult Education Curriculum and Instruction from Troy University. Nikki also has a Georgia Teaching certificate T5 from the Georgia Department of Education and a Trauma Informed Resilient Focused Schools Certification from Starr Commonwealth.
Mikva Challenge
Mikva Challenge develops youth to be informed, empowered, and active citizens and community leaders. We do this by engaging youth in action civics, an authentic and transformative learning process built on youth voice and youth expertise. Core Values: Our values challenge the status quo. Traditional schooling emphasizes adult lectures and students as passive learners. Mikva Challenges adheres to the following core values when implementing our mission: We believe that by providing high quality programming in under-resourced communities and schools, we can eliminate the civic achievement gap. We believe that if youth voice is included in decision-making that policy makers will make more informed decisions. We believe that the best way to learn democracy is to do democracy. We believe action civics is an essential tool to help young people develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be informed, empowered, and active citizens. We believe youth are not apathetic, and that by inviting them into the political process they will become powerful and thoughtful citizens. We believe that Mikva Challenge always needs to be nonpartisan to allow young people to formulate their own opinions and choose the candidates and issues they want to support. Vision: Mikva Challenge envisions a world where: Citizens are informed, empowered, and active Youth voice is valued in decision making Civic leaders reflect the nation’s diversity Action civics is prioritized in education