Seán Arthurs is an educator, non-profit leader, and lawyer with a passion for conceptualizing, developing, and implementing impactful civic education programming at scale. Arthurs holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a B.B.A. (University of Notre Dame), a J.D. (University of Cincinnati), a Master of Arts in Teaching (University of Portland), and an L.L.M. in Advocacy (Georgetown University Law Center). 

For three decades Christonya Brown has worked in Education in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She began as a GED tutor and a library assistant for Norfolk Public Schools. Upon graduation from Old Dominion University, she began her classroom experience teaching freshmen Ancient World History. After surviving a summer of history, heat, and hormonal teenagers, she spent the next seven years teaching middle school history and social science: US History, Geography, Civics, and Economics. 

Professor Henry L. Chambers, Jr., is Austin E. Owen Research Scholar & Professor of Law at the University of Richmond.  He teaches and writes primarily in the areas of constitutional law, employment discrimination, criminal law, and law and religion.  His recent work includes essays on technological change and voting rights; the regulation of campus speakers; the President’s pardon power; the scope of the President’s power to guide prosecutorial discretion; and presidential signing statements.  

Lelia Grinnan currently serves as the Director of Accreditation for the Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS), the leader in advancing and advocating for independent school education in Virginia. In this role, Lelia capitalizes on a growth mindset to promote innovation, communication, and collaboration among VAIS’s 96 member schools. 

Meg Heubeck  is currently the Director of the Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) at the UVA Center for Politics where she develops programs for civics educators across the United States and for the Center’s Global Perspectives on Democracy programs. Prior to her work at UVA she was a teacher in the Baltimore area.  

Alissa Kharkar is the 7th and 8th grade History teacher at Browne Academy, teaching both World and U.S. History, and a first year We The People coach. She earned a Master of Education degree from Boston College and had the privilege of teaching at Natick High School in Massachusetts before moving to Alexandria, VA. 

Tylik M. McMillan serves as a Policy Advisor for National Action Network which is one of the nation’s leading civil rights organizations in the Nation with chapters throughout the entire United States under the leadership of Reverend Al Sharpton. In his current capacity, Tylik works alongside the DC Bureau Chief serving a conduit for information about what is happening in the halls of Congress, in the office and administration of the President and in the chamber of the United States Supreme Court. 

Schuyler VanValkenburg received a B.A. in history from the University of Richmond in 2004, going on to complete his M.A. in history at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009 while, at the same time, launching his teaching career in Henrico County Public Schools. He spent five years teaching at Short Pump Middle School before spending the last eight years at Glen Allen High, where he teaches government and history classes and leads a We the People team. 

K. Allison Wickens, Vice President for Education, joined George Washington’s Mount Vernon in the summer of 2014. She currently leads the Education and Guest Services division and oversees the learning goals for the institution for onsite, offsite, and digital outreach programs.  She represents Mount Vernon in national discussions about museums, historic sites and how they relate to history and civics education today.