Board of Directors

Alix Adrien has been involved in the English speaking black community from an early age. At 15, as a member of the NCC Youth Coordinating Committee, his passion for community involvement and collective action were already apparent. Throughout his career in education, Alix has often been called to mentor his students, always focusing on their growth and academic development. He was a source of wisdom, teaching, and support. Since joining the Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE) in 1986, Alix has empowered many youths to take an active and leadership role in their community through education and sports. Alix takes a vision and applies the necessary strategies to make it a reality, which led him to sit on several Boards including the Inter-Level Educational Table (ILET), and as Vice President for the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators (CABE). Alix is an inspirational leader with a credible voice in community affairs, advocating the rights of minorities.

School Principal at Royal Vale School in the Notre Dame de Grace borough of Montreal.

Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge have always been my goal. My educational journey spans all across Canada and throughout the world. I attended elementary and high school in New Brunswick with a brief stint in England and completed my university studies in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. It is my true passion to learn about various school systems and how they benefit children, and I am also very interested in school perseverance and the effects that poverty can impact children’s learning.

Over the span of my career, I have had the opportunity to gain valuable insights from an academic perspective, completing my undergraduate degree at Saint Francis Xavier University, and my Bachelor of Education at the University of Windsor. I have also completed and achieved good results in Graduate level courses at McGill University. One of the highlights of my career, in terms of Professional Development was attending Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education Principal’s Center. Through this experience, I was able to examine ground breaking issues in education throughout North America and around the world.

Achieving excellence and displaying a strong work ethic is something that I have consistently shown throughout my career, and I feel that being an educator is very challenging with many obstacles, but the rewards outweigh the difficulties. My goal is to seek knowledge and to gain new insights on how to make education accessible to everyone, and to find ways to successfully engage students’ in the classroom.

As a student athlete throughout my university career I have always learned to balance my academic studies with my sport. This experience proved to be very valuable on many levels and has helped in building strong relationships, developing leadership skills, and gaining self confidence.

Another goal I have is to build on my International experience in education. I have solid experience of being a Principal for 2 years at an International school in the Middle East. Extensive travel to places like Oman, India, Kuwait, Dubai, England, France, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt have proven to be invaluable to my lifelong journey. During my experience overseas I was able to learn about the value of education in different parts of the world.

The areas in terms of research that interest me are:

1. Cross-Cultural and Multicultural Education
2. School Perseverance, Poverty, Brain Based Education
3. Differentiation, Engagement, Adult Education

In 2009, a strong passion for community and education brought the Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE) and Nadine Collins together and it has since then developed into a wonderful partnership. Nadine brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in counselling and education. Nadine has developed strategies for community integration and collaborations which benefited not only the youth but adults of all ages. Amongst her impressive portfolio of accomplishments, a pinnacle was her work with the GROOVE. As a passionate advocate of the joy of movement and creating safe spaces, Nadine has been a Montreal ambassador who has enjoyed participating, organizing and facilitating GROOVE classes across Montreal and Toronto. Nadine is also the co-founder and Vice-President of Sister’s Keeper Organization which strives to support and empower women towards achieving their goals. Nadine will continue to campaign for minority rights as the new secretary of the QBBE.

Jamie Sylvester’s passion for giving back to the community and providing educational opportunities for children and young adults has led him to join the Board of Directors of the Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE). Since 2011, as a Basketball Supervisor/Volunteer at the YMCA, Mr. Sylvester has been organizing community events and programs that empower children and young adults. Mr. Sylvester, a graduate of Accounting from McGill University, along with his passion, will bring financial accounting knowledge, analytical expertise, and data analysis skills to his mandate. Mr. Sylvester will assist the organization in pulling from the raw data and make important decisions by identifying various facts and trends. As QBBE continues to digitalize, Mr. Sylvester’s valuable involvement will be to minimize processing time while optimizing communication both internally and externally.

Dr. Horace Goddard was a writer, creator, and educator who was recognized as an influencer in various organizations from the Quebec Black community. His involvement with the Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE) started in the 1970s. Dr. Goddard’s journey in education and community service started in Montreal where he was an elementary and high school teacher between 1977- 1987, acted as Vice-Principal of Parkdale School for three years (1990 – 1993), and finally as a Coordinator of Personnel Service between 1993 -1995. Since 1995, Dr. Goddard has been involved with the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) as the Director of Community Services. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Goddard was honoured in 2009 by the Université de Montréal for outstanding academic achievement and community contributions, was bestowed the Black History Month Calendar award in 2000, and a Medal of Appreciation from the Boys & Girls Club in 1987, to name a few.

Garvin Jeffers, one of the backbones of the Quebec Board of Black Educators (QBBE) was an activist and educator, whose passions were strengthening community institutions and campaigning for minority rights. He was instrumental in the early discussions and initiative that led to the progressive Bana program in 1972; which mandate was the cultural and educational development of elementary-level black children in Quebec. Another initiative of Mr.Jeffers was the DaCosta Hall program which was set up for the enrichment and educational support of secondary level students. The QBBE’s work in the community was focused mainly on preventing failure among Black Students and Mr. Jeffers’ programs have benefitted thousands of students. Mr. Jeffers also worked in close collaboration with other visionary leaders in the black community that led the QBBE to participate in the progressive Possibilities training program for minority youth in collaboration with the Bank of Montreal and the PSBGM (EMSB).