estellachurch

Estella Owoimaha-Church was named a Global Teacher Prize Finalist (2017) and CTA Human Rights, Peace & Justice Award Recipient (2018). Mrs. Church teaches secondary theatre and English in Los Angeles, helping youth to employ performing arts as a community service tool. Though in the classroom full time, Estella remains active with several global organizations to support other educators in social justice education and art integration. As a first-generation American of Samoan and Nigerian descent, Estella recognizes how incredibly fortunate she is to occupy such spaces and hold such roles within our community. It is her duty, therefore, to advocate on behalf of all those who look like her, be an ally for everyone else left in the margins, and forge clear paths for others where there once were none. She is the founder of Education Ensemble - a company aimed at providing safe spaces for youth to devise works of art as a form of direct-action - and co-creator of EN-ACT - an online, global network of educators, community leaders, and teaching artists. As a finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, she is an ambassador for the Varkey Foundation in order to elevate the profession globally. Estella sits on the Equity Civil Rights Alliance working to defend students’ civil rights whenever attacked across the United States. She is Communications Chair for #TeachSGDs and contributing author on the Global Goals Book for the Innovation Lab Schools. Through the aforementioned roles, in addition to her work with Rock Your World and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Estella works to ensure marginalized youth everywhere have access to quality education with a focus on the arts and social justice.