Love Them First - Documentary Screening

Join Erikson Institute for the Chicago premiere of the duPont award-winning documentary Love Them First: Lessons from Lucy Lane Elementary.

Join us for one of two screenings:

3pm screening followed by audience Q&A with

• Ben Garvin, Love Them First Co-Director/Producer/Director of Photography/Editor
• Anne Gearity, PhD, Developmental Psychologist and consultant on Love Them First
• Lindsey Seavert, Love Them First Co-Director/Producer/Writer

*Ample seating available for our 3pm screening*

6pm screening followed by a panel discussion with

Facilitator: Cristina Pacione-Zayas, PhD Erikson Institute, Associate Vice President of Policy

Panelists:

• Ben Garvin, Love Them First Co-Director/Producer/Director of Photography/Editor
• Anne Gearity, PhD, Developmental Psychologist and consultant on Love Them First
• Troy LaRaviere, President, Chicago Principals and Administrators Association
• Amanda Moreno, PhD, Erikson Institute, Associate Professor; SEL Initiative Founder and Director
• Lindsey Seavert, Love Them First Co-Director/Producer/Writer

How do we know a school is succeeding? Is it test scores? Or could it be something else? Recently featured on the Today show, this poignant documentary presents a first-hand look at a struggling elementary school, the staff and administrators who “lead with love,” and a heartbreaking setback you won’t soon forget.

“Anytime anybody sees a child that looks forlorn, lost, not taken care of…spread your arms, scoop them up, ask questions later, but love them first.”

PANELIST BIOS:

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Ph.D.
(Panel Facilitator)

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, PhD, directs the vision for policy and leadership initiatives at Erikson Institute. She is charged with articulating and executing Erikson’s policy agenda to generate systemic solutions leading to equitable opportunities and positive outcomes for young children, families, and communities.

Dr. Pacione-Zayas is credited with establishing The Early Childhood Leadership Academy for Illinois leaders seeking learning experiences to enhance their capacity to inform early childhood policy. She also directs the Community Data Lab which equips local leaders with precise and accessible data on child well-being to inform systems coordination, resource allocation, and policy through the Early Development Instrument Pilot Project and Risk and Reach Project.

Dr. Pacione-Zayas was recently appointed to the Illinois State Board of Education as board secretary, co-chair for the Kindergarten Transition Advisory Committee of the P-20 and Early Learning Councils, the Educational Success Committee of Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker’s Transition Team, the Education Committee of Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot’s Transition Team, and Title V Needs Assessment Advisory Committee for the State’s federally-mandated Maternal and Child Health Services. She co-chairs The Puerto Rican Agenda of Chicago, a non-profit organization of local Puerto Rican leaders who influence policy for the advancement of the Puerto Rican community. She also serves on the Governing Board of the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and provides political commentary on WGN TV Chicago during election cycles.

She earned a doctorate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in educational policy studies. She also holds a Master of Education degree in educational policy studies and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology and Spanish, also from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is native to Chicago and is a lifelong Logan Square resident with her husband and two children.

Ben Garvin

As an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning-photojournalist now at KARE11 TV, Garvin was named 2011 Journalist of the Year by the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and photographer of the year by the Minnesota Press Photographers Association in 2007. In 2017 he served as president of the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists where he helped overturn a ban on photography in state prisons. His work on assignment for the New York Times was included in the paper's Pulitzer Prize-winning story on food poisoning in 2010. In 2012 Garvin published an award-winning photography book called "Ant Farm, Glimpses of Daily Life in Minnesota".

Previously Garvin worked for the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune in Minnesota, the Christian Science Monitor in Boston and the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire where was named three-time New Hampshire Photographer of the Year. Garvin studied creative writing at the University of Arkansas before earning a BFA in Visual Journalism with a minor in philosophy from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He lives in South Minneapolis with his wife Jessica, a cellist and baker, and children Arthur, Lewis, Bailey and Netta. Love Them First is Ben's first documentary as a director.

Anne Gearity, Ph.D.

Anne Gearity’s teaching and research expertise is in early development, attachment, and impact of trauma, especially trauma that occurred when children are preverbal, or when impact of intergenerational traumas persist within family dynamics. She has over four decades of psychotherapy practice. In collaboration with Washburn Center for Children, she authored Developmental Repair, a manual for intervention with behaviorally challenged and challenging young children, that is used widely throughout MN. And based on this model, she provides extensive consultation to schools and community agencies.

Troy LaRaviere

Troy A. LaRaviere is an American school administrator, educator and current President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association (CPAA). Prior to assuming his role as president, LaRaviere served as a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) principal. He began his teacher career at CPS in 1997. He received both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Education from the University of Illinois. During his tenure as principal of Blaine Elementary School, LaRaviere was the most awarded principal in the district. As president of CPAA, he adopted a member-driven approach that emphasized building alliances with external organizations and institutions to address the concerns of school leaders.

Amanda Moreno, Ph.D.

Throughout her career, which has included direct service, research, and instructional roles, Dr. Moreno’s focus has been on understanding the connections between children’s social-emotional well-being and learning. Of particular interest is the role adults play in providing children with conditions that foster positive development and the factors that impact the ability of adults to fulfill that role.

Her current research includes a federally funded, four-year study on mindfulness practices in Chicago Public Schools classrooms, the first one of its kind looking at a large sample of kindergarten through second grade students in high-poverty schools. She also has studied preschools and child care centers to understand how best to work with adults and provide resources to enhance their sensitivity to the interactions they have with children.

Students in both on-campus and online versions of Dr. Moreno’s courses can expect rigorous and lively discussions in which bold ideas, creativity, and applied thinking are valued over “correct” answers and statistics. With rigor also comes support, and she notes that students will find a network of faculty, staff, and peers more than willing to offer encouragement and assistance. “Children are serious business, so we consider it our job to help you succeed.”

Lindsey Seavert

While Lindsey Seavert is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award winning reporter, her greatest successes do not sit on a shelf. She is most proud of unearthing untold stories that encourage understanding and bringing them to light. Her parents were Minnesota public school teachers who gave her the gift of curiosity, so with a book and pencil often in hand, she began writing as a young child, and hasn't stopped since.

She graduated from Indiana University's Ernie Pyle School of Journalism and worked as a reporter at five news stations stretching from Northern Minnesota, Nevada, and Ohio before coming home to the Twin Cities. She's been a storyteller at KARE 11 since 2012. The legacy of teaching in her family inspires Lindsey to use stories as a vehicle to educate and serve the community. Her work often focuses on women, families and children, but she is most passionate about bringing a voice to underrepresented communities, which is how she discovered the transformation inside Lucy Craft Laney Elementary school. Love Them First is Lindsey's first documentary as a director.