Citizens Academy Southeast

Jazmine Dowdley is from Cleveland, Ohio, and has been with ODA since September 2020. She started as a Coordinator at Breakthrough E-Prep Cliffs Remote Learning Centers. Jazmine then served as a Coordinator for Garrett Morgan High School and Euclid High School, before being promoted to Program Manager.

She graduated from Villa Angela St. Joseph High School. After high school, she attended Kent State University to pursue a degree in Marketing in hopes of one day becoming the Chief Marketing Officer of a Fortune 500 company. Jazmine soon realized that working in the corporate world was not her calling and left Kent. She went to work in retail at Forever 21 for the next five years where she had worked her way up to Co-Manager. While working in retail she discovered that her true passion was helping people, specifically teens and young adults, as that was the age range she primarily supervised at Forever 21. Jazmine left the retail world in 2018 and began working at Cleveland State University so that she could go back to school for a psychology degree.

When she is not working or doing homework she enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants with friends and dancing. Jazmine also coaches cheerleading at the high school level and hopes to one day start her own all-star cheer and dance gym in Cleveland to provide more opportunities to youth in low income neighborhoods.

Michael Campbell is a Family Advocate at Open Doors Academy. His role helps to connect the families to their scholars learning experience at ODA. Prior to working at ODA, Michael worked as a Registered behavioral technician, providing applied behavior analysis therapy to children with ASD (speech and language development challenges).

He graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Psychology. Michael loves helping others grow and achieve their goals. In his free time, Michael enjoys relaxing with friends and being a ministers at his local church.

Ms. Savanna, originally from Willoughby, OH, joined Open Doors Academy in April 2024. She graduated from Lake Erie College with a degree in Psychology and spent two years working at Little Scholars daycare. In addition to her childcare experience, she also coached soccer and basketball for young children. Her passion for working with scholars stems from her love of fostering creativity in teaching and problem-solving, ensuring that each day brings something unique and engaging for her students.

Tonya Taylor became part of Open Doors Academy in May 2024, bringing a wealth of experience from her three-year role as a lead teacher at Horizon Education Centers. Although she earned an associate's degree in computer information systems from Remington College, Tonya soon realized her true passion was working with children. Her education journey has been shaped by her commitment to nurturing young minds and fostering growth, which makes her a valuable asset to the ODA team.

Desmond Gregory started his journey With ODA in the summer of 2024. Desmond is a campus coordinator at Southeast Elementary. Prior to joining Open Doors Academy, Desmond served as an educator in the Cleveland Heights University Heights city school district for 6 years. Simultaneously, Desmond was also a coordinator for the stream program at Noble Elementary. A program funded through a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Geared towards Bhutanese and Nepali refugee families gaining support in Greater Cleveland.The passion and dedication in education is what drives him to work with the youth each and everyday. In spare time, he enjoys arranging and writing music as well as spending time with his daughter.