Community School of the Arts Instructors






Joanna Grisham | MFA | Creative Writing
"From my earliest memories, I was always creating characters and building worlds,
but I didn’t know much about creative writing until I took an intro class in college.
The first short story I ever wrote was in that intro class. My professor submitted
it for a scholarship, and I won. I was shocked. I didn’t know anyone would care about
anything I’d written. I had only ever written for myself."

Dr. Ayo Walker | PhD Performance Studies | Dance
"My older sister was a cheerleader and because I was her shadow and wanted to do everything
she did, she would teach me all the latest dance steps and whatever cheers she would
learn in practice. And when her team would come to our house and see me doing all
their moves perfectly, they decided to make me their mascot/secret weapon at their
cheerleading competitions. It worked! I would wait around the entire competition for
them to put me on the floor for their final competitve routine and I would steal the
show and we would win every time."

Alyssa Amos | BA Theatre | Theatre
“Growing up a very shy kid, I found comfort in the stories and scripts I read, and
absolutely fell in love with theatre as a form of storytelling and character building.
If my favorite characters could be kind, brave, smart, outgoing- then so could I!
Theater helped me grow into who I am today. My goal is to help guide younger folks
to do the same.”