HEA remembers Katie-Jay Scott, iACT Executive Director

On the 23rd November, a tragic car accident took the lives of Katie-Jay Scott and Gabriel Stauring from iACT. iACT had recently been announced as one of the final three teams on the HEA; we have been intensively working with them for the last year, through a relationship that dates back to the very beginnings of the accelerator. Katie-Jay was the Executive Director and the focal point for iACT’s work with the HEA and brought vibrance and commitment to every HEA activity. The news deeply saddened all those in the HEA community; the team and mentors wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Katie-Jay and her enduring contribution to humanitarian education and the lives of so many refugee children in Chad and beyond.

“Over the last year, every meeting with Katie-Jay always left me excited for the work Little Ripples does in Chad. Throughout the HEA Programme, Katie-Jay has been a great peer and engaging leader, sharing many lessons and ideas. When we first met, a five-minute video pitch became a 30-minute discussion as we were so excited to hear and learn about the impact of Little Ripples. Her passionate advocacy for early childhood education and centering refugee communities at the heart of iACT’s work couldn’t help but leave you feel motivated and inspired for the future! It has been an absolute honour working with and learning from Katie-Jay.”

“Katie-Jay has been such a lovely and enthusiastic person to work with at both professional and personal level. Even when super busy, Katie-Jay has always maintained her grace under pressure and been a great inspiration throughout all our engagement. She has always brought so much knowledge, passion and great energy into the conversations, and her rich experience in working with refugee communities and refugee-led organizations and her work through Little Ripples has brought light to so many refugee children and families. Her spirit and meaningful work will be carried out by iACT to reach more refugee children and support them to realise life potentials.”

Fareeda Miah & Xinxin Yu

On behalf of UNHCR and the HEA team

“Katie-Jay had a dream — and even more than a dream, a vision and a clarity for what she believed education under the most difficult circumstances should look like and be and achieve. It was a vision not only in which children achieve learning outcomes, but in which communities that have been marginalized and excluded thrive with dignity and respect.

Many of us have dreams, and few actually work to make them happen. But she did — and what I remember most from every call with her were her updates and excitement about all of the things she and iACT were doing to turn that dream into a reality in a way that was sustainable and evidence-informed. From their research-practice partnership with Ryerson University to create an assessment framework for refugee-led early childhood education programs to our planned work of creating a measure of community ownership of education programs using participatory methods, I left every call with an incredible sense of momentum and possibility. Which was, for me, what made her loss so difficult to comprehend — to reference the Langston Hughes poem, the grief of a dream potentially deferred.

Our team at NYU-TIES is grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from and work with Katie-Jay, and we share our deepest condolences with her family, friends, and colleagues on her loss. Through our work with the HEA, we hope to continue collaborating with the teams to contribute to ensuring that Katie-Jay’s vision is not deferred — but that it takes root and thrives.”

Carly Tubbs Dolan

On behalf of NYU Global TIES for Children

“Katie-Jay was an inspirational and thoughtful leader, passionate about creating individual and systemic change in the field of humanitarian education. She generously shared iACT’s experiences and learnings with the Saving Brains community. We’re devastated by the tragic loss of Katie-Jay and Gabriel — their memories and impact will continue to live on.”

Jasmine Lam & Nathaniel Foote

On behalf of the entire Savings Brain Learning Platform team