Press Release
Dee Torre Kaufman
September 29, 2016 4:08 p.m.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Andrea M. Cummings as the new Executive Director for Take Stock in Children (TSIC) Nassau. Dr. Cummings will be responsible for retention and training of 125 current mentors and also for recruiting new mentors. In addition, she will initiate new student support services and implement resource development strategies to increase the number of students served by TSIC.
All of the facets of Dr. Cummings’ career have combined to make her uniquely valuable to the Take Stock In Children program. She has been a classroom teacher, a family social worker, and a program director/administrator. She began her career in 1998 at All Saints Primary School in her hometown of Belize City teaching students in the second and fifth grades. In 2004 her teaching experience prompted her to pursue a graduate degree, while she continued to work in the field of education as a graduate assistant and advisor at UNF.
In 2005 she took on the challenge of a Family Social Worker/Counselor for the Florida Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches (FSYR). In this capacity, Dr. Cummings was tasked with providing residential placement screening and family therapy to hundreds of at-risk youths and their parents. In addition, she assisted FSYR families by obtaining evaluative consultations for a number of psychological and neurological disorders.
Dr. Cummings has been an Academic Counselor and Adjunct Instructor for Edward Waters College in the TRIO Program, as well as Interim Director of Upward Bound. After that assignment, she joined the Paxon School for Advanced Studies’ International Baccalaureate program in Jacksonville. She also served as the Chief Executive Officer and Head of School for the DePaul School of Northeast Florida, in Jacksonville.
Dr. Cummings holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Master’s in Counseling from the University of North Florida, UNF Leadership Endorsement, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Belize. Dr. Cummings was recently honored by the Southeast Small Business Magazine as one of Jacksonville’s Top 30 Women of Influence.