Rites of Passage A Program for High School African American Males

During her 25 successful years as a teacher, author, lecturer and publisher, Dr. Shirley R. Butler-Derge has received the following awards: Most Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the Wisconsin-Bell/Ameritech, Most Outstanding High School Teacher of the Year Award from Metropolitan Milwaukee Alliance of Black School Educators (MMABSE), and the Black Excellence Award for Teaching from the Milwaukee Times and Channel 6. With her warm personality and great sense of humor, Dr. Butler-Derge has the ability to tap into her students inner gifts and instill in them a life-long passion for learning. She has written numerous innovative curriculum textbooks, as well as urban classroom plays and ethnic poetry books. She has a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction and is the founder and principal of an urban private high school, the Nzingha Institute of Creative Learning for Living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.