Jevette Collier had just earned her master’s in public administration, city management and non- profits and landed her first job in human resources and payroll. But it wasn’t exactly the dynamic career she’d hoped for. “It was awful. No one talked to me for like six months,” says the Middle School Individuals and Societies teacher.
Ms. Collier, a Shaker Heights High School graduate (‘96), decided she needed a career change. Something that capitalized on her energy and her desire to help people and make a difference. So she came back to Shaker and began subbing at the Middle School. Then she went back to school to get teaching licensure at Notre Dame College.
“It felt good coming back because Shaker was a place that impacted me so much,” Ms. Collier explains. “Shaker gave me a sense that I was enough. That I could compete. This education enabled me to articulate my feelings and to have the kinds of relationships I now have with my students.”
It also enabled her to have honest conversations about race when she graduated from Shaker and headed to Hiram College. “I went from being in this diverse environment to being one of 35 to 40 black kids on campus. My first week of school, I met a girl who grew up on a farm in Ohio and she said she’d never seen a black person eat before and could she eat with me. So we ate together and to this day, she’s one of my best friends,” Ms. Collier remembers. “My background gave me the strength to break down barriers and to say, ‘Let’s learn, let’s teach and let’s talk.’”
Today, Ms. Collier makes it her personal mission to build every student’s inner strength so that they can face the world with confidence. Every day, her students begin her class by reciting out loud an affirmation that they are smart, intelligent, beautiful human beings. “Words have power,” she says. “I believe that when you really feel something deep down and you speak it, you can will it to happen. Middle school is such a vulnerable time for students. I try to combat that by using this information in a powerful way.”
This daily affirmation builds trust, and that trust makes students more receptive to the classroom lessons Ms. Collier shares. “If the kids feel an emotional connection, then they’re willing to work because they know I care about them,” she says. “I am not here to break kids down. I’m here to build them up.”