LeVar Burton returns to our TV show and he brings along NEA’s president Lily Eskelsen García to talk about the very successful Read Across America campaign.
Video Content: Lily Eskelsen García and LeVar Burton (2017)
SIDEWALKS host Lori Rosales interviews actor / TV host LeVar Burton (“Reading Rainbow,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Roots”) and Lily Eskelsen García, the President of National Education Association, about the NEA’s campaign, Read Across America.
Mini-Biographies:
Born in Landstuhl, West Germany, LeVar Burton is actor and director. He started his acting career playing a young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries “Roots” and the Christmas TV-movie, “Roots: The Gift.” He is known for being the host of the long-running PBS series “Reading Rainbow” and as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and feature films. He voices Doc Greene in “Transformers: Rescue Bots” and was Paul Haley in “Perception.” As a director, he helmed TV episode(s) of “JAG,” “Las Vegas,” “Charmed,” and “Soul Food,” as well as episodes of many of the “Star Trek” series, including “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager,” and “Enterprise.”
Born in Fort Hood, Texas, Lily Eskelsen García is president of the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest labor union. Ms. García began her career in education as a teacher (fourth, fifth, and sixth grades at Orchard Elementary in the Granite School District in Utah) and now leads a professional association of three million educators. In 1989, she was named Utah Teacher of the Year. Ms. García served as presidents for Utah Retirement Systems and the Utah Education Association, an affiliate of NEA. Additionally, she was a member of President Bill Clinton’s White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education, and later, a member of President Obama’s President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
Interview Credits:
Recorded: March 2, 2017
Host / Producer: Lori Rosales
Editor: Richard R. Lee
Special Thanks To: National Education Association