ATHENS, Ala. (AP) - When Caulyne Hayden graduated from Trinity High School in the 1950s, an era when one in three women worked, two options existed - teach or become a secretary.
“There was a limited amount of things a woman could do. Originally, I wanted to be a secretary. I thought that would be so interesting,” the Athens woman said.
But, since Alabama A&M offered no classes in clerical work, Hayden studied education. Her daughter, Synthia Howell, who considered being a nurse, and granddaughter, Caelethia Clemons, who thought about a career in the performing arts, followed in her footsteps.
“I think teaching is a calling. It is one of those things you just know. You may try to do something different, but you can’t outrun it. If teaching is in your blood, it is something you just have to do,” Clemons said.
In recognition of Women’s History Month, celebrated annually in March, here are three generations of women, who, combined, have logged 90 years in education and impacted the lives of thousands of students. They taught, inspired and molded future lawyers, doctors, politicians, business owners, professors, athletes and musicians.
The women’s roots in education began on a cotton farm in rural Limestone County. There, on Alabama 251, Hayden’s father, a farmer, and mother, a domestic worker, stressed the importance of education.
To further instill learning as a priority, they named Hayden after Caulyne Coble Bramlette, the 1932 valedictorian of Trinity and a teacher at the school. While neither of Hayden’s parents graduated from high school, all four of their children earned college degrees.
“It wasn’t an option. My parents believed in education. My dad was such a wise man. He embedded in us this is what you do. It was automatic, after you got out of high school, you would go to college,” Hayden said.
And that is what Hayden did. After graduating early from Trinity, Limestone County’s sole high school for black students, Hayden followed her three older siblings to Alabama A&M, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
“Since I couldn’t become a secretary, I got into education. And, oh, it was so very rewarding,” Hayden said.
After 38 years of teaching - one year at Dogwood Flat Elementary in Tanner, 12 years at Miller Elementary and, after integration, 25 years at Julian Newman Elementary in Athens - Hayden, who continues to lead weekly Bible study at her church, retired.
“What I hope my students took away from me was to be honest and to pursue life with enthusiasm,” Hayden said.
As a child, Synthia Howell watched her mother bring stacks of papers home to grade and vowed to never become a teacher. Teaching, she swore, would be the one thing she would never do.
“My first thought was I wanted to be a nurse. Now I can hardly look at blood,” Howell said. “I have no idea how I ended up in the education department at Alabama A&M. It had to be supernatural guidance. I now recognize that I teach because it’s the call on my life. God keeps me energized and eager each morning to meet the needs of each individual child.”
Currently in her 36th year of teaching, Howell, who spent the last 34 years in kindergarten at Julian Newman Elementary, named her mother, who she learned under at Miller Elementary and taught with at Julian Newman, as her mentor.
“Mother taught me about discipline, about boundaries, about love, about being kind and she made me feel like I could do anything,” Howell said. “That’s what I try to teach my students. In my room, they’re not allowed to say they can’t do something. I want them to always tell themselves that they can.”
Howell’s second-grade teacher, Ruth Harris, with her gentle voice, poise and pleasant demeanor, also inspired her. Last year, Howell invited Harris to read to her students, showing the lasting impact teachers, with each encouraging word, sticker and pat on the back, can have.
“I wanted my students to meet this woman who was so important in my life. It was an honor to have her in my class,” Howell said.
Like her mother and grandmother, Caelethia Clemons considered alternatives to education before submitting to her calling as a teacher.
“As a kid, I would go to my mom’s classroom and my grandma’s classroom and pretend to be the teacher. Once I got a little older, I decided that I wasn’t going to be like mom and grandma,” said Clemons, who received a performing arts scholarship to Alabama A&M. “Midway through college, I just knew I couldn’t run from it anymore.”
Clemons now applies the lessons of encouragement and discipline she saw her mother and grandmother practice to inspiring students at Lake Worth High School in Florida’s Palm Beach County. Of the school’s 2,600 students, 89 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged.
“Our students have a lot of challenges. We have a high English Language Learner population and I have some teen moms. I’m on them like white on rice,” Clemons said. “They are told a lot of times what their limitations are. One of my goals is to break those limitations. I want them to know they have options and they don’t have to limit themselves based on what the generations before them did.”
Last year, Clemons, who worked as a math teacher and coach before becoming assistant principal, received the Palm Beach School Counselors Association’s site-based high school administrator of the year, in part for increasing the school’s graduation rate from 75 percent to 82 percent.
“I am who I am today, mainly, because of my grandma and mom. They showed me that anything was possible and taught me to put my faith in God. I hope to keep passing those lessons down to the next generations,” Clemons said.
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Information from: The Decatur Daily, http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/index.shtml
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