Mikayah Parsons

Mikayah Parsons was part of the second cohort of Winston-Salem TEACH and started their first year of teaching in the fall of 2025. Mikayah received their Bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, where they majored in English, American Studies, History, and Black Studies and received the Doshisha American Studies Prize and Asa J. Davis History Prize. Mikayah graduated magna cum laude with distinction. They became a part of the WS-TEACH program in 2024 because “[they] saw how the impact of a single teacher could make a student feel included and felt committed to reproducing that shift for students alike and unlike [themself].” They received their Master’s degree from Wake Forest University in Secondary Education, where they graduated with a G.P.A. of 4.0. At the end of their teaching internship at R.J. Reynolds High School, they received the Winston-Salem TEACH award for Comprehensive Teaching Excellence.

Mikayah is currently a second-year teacher at R.J. Reynolds High School, where they teach English. Mikayah is passionate about literacy, culturally relevant pedagogy, and multicultural education.