To be honored at Sept. 15 banquet
By American staff
The class of eight 2006 Excellence in Education awardees is a diverse group that includes early childhood instructors, college educators, classroom teachers and a technical school stalwart.
All play a role in educating young Americans, and all will be honored during the St. Louis American Foundation’s 19th annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Banquet, presented by Anheuser-Busch Inc. on Friday, Sept. 15 at America’s Center.
JoWanda Bozeman is in her 30th year of service to the Parkway School District and in her first as president of the Parkway National Education Association. After 28 years as a sixth-grade teacher, Bozeman became the Parkway Southwest Middle School literacy specialist, where she was administrator of the Reading 180 program.
“The program is designed to help students who were struggling with reading,” she said.
Decades of experience with the Parkway district has helped her transition to the full-time job as PNEA president.
“That has made the job a little bit easier,” she said. “Working with the administration has been smoother because I’ve been doing this for so long.”
Harvey R. Fields Jr., Ph.D., has helped hundreds of Washington University students graduate in their chosen fields as assistant director of academic programs of the Center for Advanced Learning’s Cornerstone program.
Dr. Fields has also been instrumental in administration of the TRIO program. TRIO assists first-generation college students, students from low-income families and students who have a documented disability by providing academic support, financial aid, assistance in preparing for graduate school and leadership training programs.
A 1999 recipient of a Council of Students of Arts & Sciences teaching award for chemistry instruction, Fields is also devoted to service at Union Baptist Church of Chesterfield as its pastor and is a member of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures Initiative.
In 2002 Kathryn Garrett was honored with the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. As coordinator of early childhood programs at the Normandy Early Childhood Center, Garrett has been an integral force behind the institution’s success. Before becoming an instructional specialist at Bel-Nor Elementary School in Normandy, Garrett was a kindergarten teacher for 10 years. She implemented a program called “Land of the Letter People” and the Missouri Reading Initiative, an innovative approach to teaching literacy. Garrett has conducted and facilitated several early childhood education workshops on learning centers and the use of developmentally appropriate practices. She also played a key role in establishing a full-day program at the Normandy School District’s Normandy Kindergarten Center.
Since 1957, Clarice Hall has educated thousands of students without missing one day. She has worked for nearly 49 years, which equates to approximately 9,000 days present for work. Hall began her teaching career with SLPS in 1957 at Waring School under the leadership of Dr. Anne Price, former assistant superintendent of Elementary Education for SLPS. She was recognized as a first runner-up for Teacher of the Year by the St. Louis Urban League in 1990 and in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. In 1993 she received special proclamations from both President Bill Clinton and former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. for her service to the children of SLPS.
In 1996 she was honored by SLPS with the “Whatever It Takes Award,” and the following year she was honored by the Jamison Memorial CME Church and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Harris-Stowe. “You have to love children to teach,” Hall said. “Because if you don’t, you won’t make it.”
Although she has been in the education field for nearly two decades, Crystal Herron says that her employment with Ranken Technical College was only her second job after leaving college in the early ‘90s. She currently serves as Ranken’s director of Student Support Services.
Since taking an adjunct English professor faculty position, she has often volunteered to work with programs at Ranken, including those geared towards at-risk youth.
One career highlight was serving as director for Ranken’s TRIO program during 2003-2004. This initiative took failing SLPS students and offered opportunities for graduation and GED certificates and exposed them to the technical field.
A native of East St. Louis, Herron received a bachelor’s in mass communications from Alcorn State University and her master’s in English/technical writing from Bowling Green University.
“My entering the field of education had more to do with the desire to read and discuss ideas,” said Dr. Howard Ramsby, a professor of African-American and American Literature at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. At age 29, Ramsby is already equipped with a Ph.D. and has studied in Europe and Africa. He credits the author Richard Wright as the inspiration for many of his travels and career choices.
A native of Jackson, Tenn., Ramsby received his undergraduate education at Tugaloo College in Mississippi and his Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University at the tender age of 27. “My students tease me because in some cases I am younger than they are,” Ramsby said.
On a volunteer level he works with young men in the East St. Louis community.
Kathy Walker-Steele has worked nearly 30 years as an educator. With unwavering dedication she worked her way up to her current position as assistant superintendent of the East St. Louis School District.
Walker-Steele said being honored with an Excellence in Education award is an affirmation of her life’s commitment to making a difference in the lives of young people.
“She’s well deserving of the award,” said Christina Smith, principal of Adams Early Childhood Center in her district.
“She’s worked really hard to make sure the kids get the education they deserve.”
After teaching for 23 years in the East St. Louis School District, Walker-Steele became curriculum supervisor from 1999-2003 and then assistant director of human resources for the district.
She earned her bachelor’s at Fisk University in 1974 and her master’s of education at the University of Illinois in 1982.
After spending 17 years in the trenches as a classroom teacher, Zella Williams has been a counselor, assistant principal, principal and is currently assistant superintendent of school accountability in the Hazelwood School District.
She began her 37-year career as a classroom teacher at Our Lady of the Angeles Elementary School in Kinloch, where she grew up and graduated from high school.
Williams won the Keeven Teacher of the Year award in 1987. She was St. Louis Suburban Counselor’s Association Counselor of the Year in 1996.
Williams said her varied working experience as an educator is “a blessing” that enables her to “make good, informed decisions that positively affect children, teachers and parents.”
Williams received her bachelor’s in elementary education at the University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff (then Arkansas AM&N) and is currently enrolled in a doctorate program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where she earned her master’s.
She said, “You have to love children and what you are doing and never stop learning.”
Tickets for the St. Louis American Foundation’s 19th annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Banquet, presented by Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and held Friday, Sept. 15, are available for $85 each for general seating (tables of 10 for $850), and $1,500 for a VIP/corporate table of 10. The event will be a sellout. For information and tickets, please call (314) 533-8000.