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| Shoestring
Staff Profile:
WILLIETTA WILLIAMS
 Willieetta
Williams walks the walk.
She’s setting a great example for her young children
and making the most of her educational opportunities, while
also making a great contribution to our efforts at Operation
Shoestring. Willieetta works as an input analyst and parent
liaison for the Even Start family literacy program. In
these roles, she maintains records and statistics on the
Even Start families and makes home visits demonstrating
to parents how to enhance their child’s language
and literacy development skills. Willieetta also is pursuing
a degree in social work at Hinds Community College, and
serves as the PTA President at Galloway Elementary School.
|
"I’ve
always had a passion for helping people," says Willieetta.
"I liked what Operation Shoestring was doing in the community,
and I thought I might
be able to work there and do some good." Willieetta first
applied for a position working in the Family Development program,
and then was put on the Even Start team that helps develop literacy
skills among young families. She’s been with Operation
Shoestring almost four years, a long time for a young woman still
in her early 20s.
"Willieetta
is a real asset to us," says Executive Director Robert Langford. "She’s smart and a hard
worker who relates well to the families we serve, as well as
to our staff and volunteers. In addition, she’s working
for Shoestring full-time, going to college, raising two daughters,
is a PTA president and volunteering with Parents for Public Schools.
She has all that going on and she seems to being doing a good
job with each of those big responsibilities. She’s definitely
going places."
Willieetta was born and raised in
Jackson, where she attended Isabel Elementary School and Bailey
Magnet School. She now sends
her two daughters (Sharonda, 8, and Constance, 4) to Galloway,
where her active involvement keeps her on top of her kids’ educational
progress.
"Operation Shoestring gives me a place where I can make
a difference in people’s lives on a daily basis," says
Willieetta. "I get to pursue my own passions and further
my own career, while helping other young people grow up strong
and educated. It’s a great place."
If I could pick another career: "I am sure
I would pick a career as an educator. I have a passion to help
children
and want them all to be successful. After all, they really
are our future."
Career
I wouldn’t want: "I never thought about that!
You never know what situations life will put you in… I
would always do whatever I had to do to provide for my family."
Role
model: "My biggest role model is probably Ivadeen
Ellis, my third grade teacher at Isabel Elementary School. I
liked who she was and what she stood for. She’s still teaching
there today."
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