Seven students in the UVI Communication Department participated in the 53rd annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region IV (KCACTF4) in mid-February. They were selected as part of the initial Institute for Theatre Journalism and Advocacy (ITJA) program. Chosen primarily for their demonstration of strong oral and written communication skills as well as leadership traits, Kendrekus Jackson, Jada Roberts, Gretlyn Joseph, Hope Charles Pierre, George Francis, and Nadege Barber represented UVI as the only HBCU school in the ITJA division.
During the intense sessions, Nadege Barber, a business major and communication minor, engaged with specialists who embrace technology and social media of the 21st century. She successfully promoted inclusion, diversity and race relations on college campuses. UVI students utilized journalism and advocacy skills to critique, observe and intrinsically interpret original playwrighting, dramaturgy, and technical theatre productions by college students and established an impressive collaborative with the ITJA coordinator and representative of the RED initiative (Representation, Equity, Diversity). Their critique of the play, Pipeline is featured on the KACTF website.
For more information contact, Dr. Sharon Albert-Honore at sharon.honore@uvi.edu