Mark J. Comesañas is always looking to scale his impact. A former teacher and school leader, he is now the executive director of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Newark, a nonprofit focused on closing opportunity gaps for boys and young men of color through policy and system-change work.
“When I was a teacher, I served the 30 students in my classroom,” he said. “As a school leader, I served the hundreds in my schools. As a nonprofit leader, I influence ecosystems that serve thousands of boys and young men of color across my city.”
Three years ago, he joined Penn GSE’s Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational and Organizational Leadership in the hopes of learning ways to scale his work further. And now, on May 16, he will graduate with his Ed.D.
“I am looking forward to combining the things I've learned from my lived experiences and the academic research to develop more comprehensive systems for supporting thousands more young people,” said Comesañas.
We spoke to him about what he’s learned, the importance of his program cohort, and the new challenges ahead.
What role are you stepping into after graduation, and where will you be working?
I will continue to lead the MBK work in my city and look to work with my team to scale the work towards greater impact for boys and young men of color. I also was recently elected to my local school board and am looking forward to contributing to the education ecosystem as a member of the Newark Board of Education In this role, I will be one of nine board members responsible for over 40,000 students—and am looking forward to serving my community to the best of my ability.
How did your time at Penn GSE prepare you for what’s next?
Being in community with my cohort-mates over the last three years has helped affirm the way I approach serving young people and families, while also pushing me to be more precise in the way I contextualize the strengths and gaps that exist. One example of this came from our preliminary exam at the end of year 2, where we worked within a small group to support a school leader through a real-life case study. Through this experience we leaned on many of the skills we had learned thus far—like reframing, collecting quantitative and qualitative data, and galvanizing the group around a common goal. This exercise allowed us to demonstrate just how much we had learned through application in context.
Looking back, what’s one thing you’re most proud of accomplishing during your time at Penn GSE?
Completing a three-year executive style doctoral program is no easy feat. In addition to this are my other responsibilities as a husband, father, community leader, educator, and more. Considering all of this, there is much to be proud of. But my proudest moments are when my cohort-mates and I were able to show up for each other with encouragement, words of affirmation, spending some quality time, and simply being present. I would not have gotten through this program without many of them, and I think they would say the same thing as well.
Anything else?
While I am grateful for the things GSE provided, I think it is also important to note that most of all, GSE helped fine tune and augment existing skills, knowledge, and capacity for myself and the rest of the cohort. The etymology of the word education is the word Latin word educere, which means “to draw out.” This assumes that what is needed already exists within, and true education is about creating the conditions for what is already within to bubble up and surface. GSE did not give us something we didn't already have. It just helped draw it out of us.
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