Little Rock, Arkansas — Graduate Arkansas Charter High School is pleased to announce that Crystal T. Barker, founder of cYOU – c Your Own Uniqueness and a certified DISC Behavioral Assessments trainer, speaker, and community leader, will be the keynote speaker for the 2026 Commencement Ceremony.
"We are honored to welcome Crystal T. Barker as our Commencement speaker this year," said GA Superintendent Katie Hatley. "Ms. Barker's life and work reflect a deep commitment to meeting people where they are and helping them reach their highest potential. She is a community servant, and a fellow soror of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Crystal is an ideal voice to speak into the lives of our graduates and the families who have stood faithfully beside them."
About Crystal T. Barker
Crystal T. Barker is a native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, and a proud mother and grandmother whose family is at the center of everything she does. A certified DISC Behavioral Assessments trainer, she has facilitated leadership and behavioral training for nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 companies alike. Guided by her personal philosophy, “If God said it… just do it,” Crystal launched her speaking and training business, cYOU – c Your Own Uniqueness, in April 2019 — an enterprise rooted in the belief that every person carries God-given potential waiting to be discovered.
Crystal earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Philander Smith College and her master’s degree in Human Resources Management and Organizational Leadership from Webster University. She is a co-author of Breaking Down Barriers, For A Time to Heal, and has designed and facilitated impactful workshops for Upward Bound teen girls titled See Me. Know Me. Love Me., focused on self-esteem, academic success, career readiness, and future planning. Her motivational messages have reached diverse audiences including women in correctional facilities, corporate teams, youth groups, women’s ministries, and leadership organizations. She also served more than five years as an Adjunct Professor at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock.
A dedicated member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated for 29 consecutive years, Crystal was elected Southwest Regional Director in 2022 and re-elected in 2024. She is also an active member of Top Ladies of Distinction, Order of the Eastern Star, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), and the North Little Rock Chapter of the NAACP. Her leadership and service have earned her numerous honors, including the Irma Hunter Brown Women’s Leadership Award from the Democratic Black Caucus (2015) and the Community Image Award from Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (2015 National Conclave). On March 3, 2026, Crystal was elected to serve as a member of the North Little Rock School Board, further deepening her commitment to educational excellence and community impact.
About Graduate Arkansas Charter High School
Graduate Arkansas Charter High School is a dropout prevention and recovery high school with a 14+ year history of serving “AT-PROMISE” students through flexible approaches. The school has grown from a local charter to a statewide educational necessity and has maintained financial stability and integrity throughout its development.
Founded in 2011 as SIATech Little Rock on Job Corps’s campus, the school became a community school in 2013. Operating as an open entry/exit credit recovery high school, it was renamed Graduate Arkansas in 2019. The school was granted a cap increase in 2021, the same year it began statewide juvenile justice services.
For more information about Graduate Arkansas Charter High School’s Commencement 2026, please visit the school’s website at https://www.graduatearkansas.org/page/graduation-information or contact the school office at (501) 500-9270.
Graduate Arkansas
6724 Interstate 30 | Little Rock, AR 72209
Phone: 501-500-9270 | registration@graduatearkansas.org