Chloe Garth-Elkins' Saturday Upward Bound class at Jackson State University is learning about the word rastaquouere. The students begin to grasp the true meaning of the word through application of its technical definition: "social intruder; upstart." Garth-Elkins patiently guides students through the lesson, inviting them to enter the world of scholars in constant pursuit of knowledge.
"This is my world," she says. "I invite anyone to come into my world, because it's a beautiful thing."
Garth-Elkins, 53, teaches junior and senior English at Lanier High School. She began working with Upward Bound, a national program, when it came to Jackson State in 2007. Jackson Public Schools administrators select lower-income high school kids for the program's enrichment classes that prepare students for college and scholarships. Many of the program's students will be the first in their families to attend college, Garth-Elkins says.
Together with Martha Alexander from Operation Shoestring (a Jackson non-profit that provides underprivileged children with a tutoring and mentorships), Garth-Elkins co-authored a grant to fund an afterschool enrichment program called 21st Century for the Lanier High School feeder pattern.
Last month, Jackson Public Schools named Garth-Elkins the district's Teacher of the Year. Garth-Elkins made it clear that the true honor is her students' success.
"You know how some people say, 'That's what I want to do. I want to win accolades'? No, my accolade is the diploma of a student who otherwise thought that they would not have made it," she says.
"My accolade is knowing that our students are going to be positive and productive citizens in our society."
Garth-Elkins started out as retail buyer for Lord & Taylor in the early 1980s in New York City. After her children, Norris and Christian, were born, she sought a profession that would allow her to be at home more, and she unexpectedly fell into teaching. The Tennessee native earned a master's degree in curriculum instruction and supervision administration at Trevecca Nazarene College, an affiliate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, in 1980.
"I discovered when I started teaching that I should've been doing this for forever and a day," she says. "It was like my completion. It was that excitement, that bonding I was searching for in the world of industry and the business world."
The birth of her granddaughter, Alason, led her to move to Jackson from Michigan in 2005. She admits she never planned to move to Mississippi, but she loves the opportunities she has had to fulfill her passion here.
"We may be upset about things because they do not go the way we want them to go, the way we planned them. But there is a higher order that knows better," she says.
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