Marques, who barely stands 5’2”, speaks with the force of a civil rights attorney when addressing various, contentious issues. This has been met by heavy resistance from civic organizations, as well as the two mayoral hopefuls, Shavar Jeffries and Ras Baraka. While marching down Newark Broad Street to City Hall, Marques argued, if we can’t get our voices heard when we go to Trenton, or when we go to school board meetings, then where is our voices heard?” Marques and other organizers were protesting Anderson’s One Newark plan to put the state-run school system into private ownership. Marques had organized a school walkout by a half dozen high schools across the city, including Science Park. The Observer caught up with Marques and other members of Communities United over a week ago, protesting the privatization of Newark public schools by Superintendent Cami Anderson and the Chris Christie administration. According to its website, Communities United “is a progressive grassroots community organization committed to building power for low and moderate income people, predominantly in Newark.” Unlike a lot of community organizations that merely provide lip service and catchy phrases, Marques has been an active front line activist in the mission of the organization. Marques’ debate skills are not just relegated to her academic environment, but also as a member of Communities United. Marques has bought her skills to Rutgers, where she continues to debate. Marques, 19, graduated last year with a 3.7 GPA, while participating in the debate club throughout her four year tenure. Of her experience at Science, Marques says, “Science is a very academically oriented school,” which helped create her foundation as an elite student. Science Park is a blue ribbon school, which is the highest award an American school can receive. As a senior in high school Marques formed the Newark Students Union at Science Park, along with other students from Science Park High School. Rutgers-Newark freshman Thais Marques has been on the front line, battling injustices in the Newark community for over a year now.

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