Wisdom, guest column

Wisdom is an invitational column where an outstanding woman will share a message that we hope you'll find inspiring, motivational, and empowering.

Seing others stripped of everything but life itself proved to be a powerful lesson for us all.

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Having Everything After Katrina

Jan E. Gillespie-Walton

These past two weeks have, indeed, shaken our world and forced us to look deeply into who we really are and what we really value. Katrina has brought us to our knees, splashed our faces with tears, and made many more politically astute than they ever thought they would be. Our emotions have run the gamut, and we have had to reevaluate all that holds meaning in our lives. Seeing others stripped of everything but life itself proved to be a powerful lesson for us all. What does one hold onto when, seemingly, all is gone?

Garbed in donated clothing and seated on a military cot, a young mother broke into tears of joy upon learning that her two teenaged daughters had been located. Her words caused me to weep with her... she kept repeating, "Now I have everything." (I am sure that I wept for her and shamefully for myself, for I had dared to think that this homeless woman, devoid of material possessions, had nothing.) She had stared down Death. She had been reunited with her "babies"... her lifeline to the future. Indeed, she had everything.

Everything is Life! Everything is Love! Everything is Warmth! Everything is the richness of Being. Today reach out to someone whom God has lovingly placed in your life and say, "Because of you, now I have everything."

Biography

Jan E. Gillespie-Walton, an educator, public school administrator, educational diversity trainer, has demonstrated outstanding instructional and administrative leadership for over 35 years. She is the recently retired Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for the Camden City Public Schools where she worked to support schools, provided oversight for the Curriculum delivery and Professional Development for staff. Her successful years as the principal of the Cooper B. Hatch Middle School in Camden were instrumental in her invitation to become the Samuel S. Fels Cluster Leader in the Philadelphia School District in 1996.

During her six years as cluster leader, Jan established the first Year Round Education School in the District, provided diversity training for all professionals serving the students representing 55 languages, and, an placed emphasis on understanding each child’s cultural and academic needs. Because of the cluster’s excellent work, President Clinton named the Fels Cluster Program one of the Ten Promising Practices, which he took with him to Akron Ohio’s Town Meeting addressing One America. This was the only public school program highlighted among the participating organizations.

Throughout her professional career in public education, Jan Gillespie-Walton has been committed to struggling urban school districts. She states, "My focus has been, and continues to be, in support of those students and parents who have been traditionally under served by the public education arena."

Gillespie-Walton, a graduate of Cheyney, Temple and Arcadia Universities, belongs to numerous professional organizations, among which are Phi Delta Kappa, State Senate Education Advisory Committee, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Harriet Tubman Education Society, National Association of Black School Educators.

Jan Gillespie-Walton, a native of Philadelphia, is married to Pierre Walton and the mother of one son Edward Gillespie, a researcher and Elaine Doyle-Gillespie, a teacher.