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America Reads Challenge Program

The mission of Imagination Lab is to provide free curriculum resources to teachers and students in the local schools for professional development and to build their own makerspaces. This has been possible through the dedicated efforts and support of America Reads Challenge tutors and partner school teachers.

Meet our dedicated team who helped us to Re-Imagine...

Grant Miller

Grant Miller, Director of Imagination Lab
 gmiller@siu.edu

Grant Miller is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and began directing the Educating with Evidence project in 2015. He received his Ph.D. from Boston College and holds a B.S.E. in Elementary and Middle School Education from Missouri Southern State University and an M.A. in history from Missouri State University. His teaching and research interests include media literacy, historical thinking, place-based education, assessment systems, and increasing curricula’s accessibility through Universal Design for Learning.

Sandra Richy John

Sandra Richy John, Graduate Teaching/Research Assistant
 sandrarichy.john@siu.edu

Sandra Richy John is a PhD Candidate in Curriculum and Instruction specializing in Math Education. She has a B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Mahatma Gandhi University, and a M.S in Electrical Engineering from Bradley University, Peoria. She has worked in the software industry in software development and testing roles. Her teaching and research interests include integration of technology to support STEM education through 3D printing and design thinking. She has been the lead instructor of the America Reads Challenge program from Fall 2021-Spring 2025. Her role involved developing curriculum materials, training work study tutors, and maintaining Imagination lab web pages.

Travis Clayton

Travis Clayton, Special Education Teacher at Carbondale Middle School
tclayton@ces95.org

My name is Travis Clayton. I teach self-contained middle school math (among other subjects and populations, but that one's my primary passion.) I am a Learning Behavior Specialist (1) with a Master's degree in Learning Experience Design and Education Technology. I have slightly more than three decades in special needs classrooms in southern Illinois. I have been working with the America Reads Program since the 2020/2021 school year. The best part of the program for me has been the discovery/development of the most effective academic intervention I've encountered in my career. The program has played a pivotal role in providing students with learning challenges and significant academic delays with the means to progress several years academically (as measured by standardized tests) in the course of a single year. 

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Erin Kelley

Erin Kelley, America Reads Challenge Tutor
erin.kelley@siu.edu

Erin Kelley was hired for America Reads in the Fall of 2024. She worked with Mr. Clayton and Sandra Richy to best help the students reach their personal goals. In the latter half of Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, she started to work with Ms. Batteau to show the students in her art class different ways of how math and art intersect with origami. She will soon graduate with dual bachelor's degrees in art and theatre.