Program Staff

Christopher Sumner - Director of Teacher Bound

B. Christopher Sumner is the Director of Teacher Bound, the Wheelock College Upward Bound Program. Chris is a Boston native and an accomplished community relations executive with a strong background in working with youth in the greater Boston area. He has spent the past fifteen years in leadership roles for profit and not profit organizations. Chris has been director of Community Outreach at Children's Hospital's "Healthy Children, Healthy Communities" Program; Executive Director of the Boston Ten Point Coalition; Executive Director of the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club; Executive Director of the Boston Urban Youth Foundation's Opening Doors (a violence prevention program); and Executive Director of the I Have A Dream Foundation of Boston.

In his personal life, Chris is a devoted husband of 23 years and the proud parents of three daughters. Chris' credentials include a Bachelors of Science in Social Sciences/Human Resources at Springfield College and a number of citations from city and state officials as well as awards from a number of prestigious institutions.

However, Chris' credentials do not fully describe his deep commitment to troubled urban youth, and his intrinsic need for helping them turn their lives around and reach their full potential. Contact: 617-879-2351

Jasmine Toussaint – Program Coordinator

Jasmine Toussaint is the Program Coordinator for Teacher Bound, the Wheelock College Upward Bound Program. Prior to joining the Wheelock community Jasmine worked as a Program/Outreach Coordinator in the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Library and taught in Boston Public Schools. Jasmine is no stranger to Wheelock College having interned with TEACHBoston while in Graduate school. She is a graduate of Boston College where she earned a Bachelors of Arts in English with a concentration in African American studies and a Masters of Education in Secondary Education with a focus in English Language Arts. Contact: 617-879-2352

Genithia Hogges – Academic Coordinator

Genithia Lilia Hogges was born and raised in Miami, Florida.  The second daughter of Ralph Hogges and Lilia Pardo Hogges, she graduated from New World School of the Arts High School then matriculated at Harvard University, where she earned a Bachelors degree in Literature (focus: Hispanic-American and African-American authors) and a Masters of Education degree in Arts in Education (focus: interdisciplinary curriculum development for Secondary English instruction).  Genithia has taught middle and high school Humanities, Media Literacy, English, and Music at the Mission Hill School (Boston, MA), Middle School No. 72 (Queens, NY), and Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (Newton, MA).  She now serves as Academic Coordinator of the Wheelock College Upward Bound program. Contact: 617-879-1117

Trisha Mah – Program Assistant

Trisha is passionate about promoting inclusion of all cultures and providing access to quality education for youth.  She moved to Boston from California to attend Wheelock College where she received her Masters in Leadership in Community Education and Human Services in 2009.  She attended Saint Mary's College of California for her undergraduate degree in Integral (Western Classics), where she had the opportunity to study abroad at Oxford University.  This experience gave her new perspective on American culture and greater respect for its diversity.  Before moving to Boston, Trisha worked with urban youth of different ages as a tutor and mentor at various Bay Area organizations.  She worked as an Academic Counselor in the program’s inaugural summer in 2008 as well as provided administrative support.  She enjoyed working with the Teacher Bound Scholars so much that she now works as the Program Assistant and heads the mentoring program.   She is excited to be a part of this unique program and serve our future educators. Contact: 617-879-1118

Program Staff:

• Full-time/Program Director, Chris Sumner 617-879-2351
  
• Full-time/Program Coordinator, Jasmine Toussaint 617-879-2352
  
• Part time/Genithia Hogges, Academic Coordinator 617-879-1117
  
• Part time/Trisha Mah, Program Assistant, Wheelock College 2009 – Masters in Leadership