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By Leon G. Russ
HOMETOWN NEWS
As Sylvia Jamison recently walked into the gym at Woodruff High School the memories came flooding back to her. It had been 28 years since she gave her Valedictory address on the Woodruff High football field.
When she entered the gym, the one spot that survived the fire, the one spot that was exactly the same as when she walked the halls of Woodruff High, it was as if she was transported back in time.
Now, as then, Jamison was front and center and giving an address to the student body.
The difference this time was that instead of offering hope and advice from a young inexperienced woman just ready to begin life as an adult, this time Jamison was dispensing advice from having lived a productive life.
From a distance it was probably difficult for her old teachers to distinguish her from her days in high school. She still has a youthful face and beaming smile, still has a strong voice that garners attention.
While she now teaches at Spartanburg High, she was bedecked in maroon and gold and told the student body to thunderous cheers, “Once a Wolverine, always a Wolverine.”
After graduating Woodruff High she pursued an education degree at the University of South Carolina. To no one’s surprise she achieved academic excellence there too, earning Suma Cum Laude honors.
She received that honor, as the old commercial featuring John Houseman said, the old fashioned way — she earned it.
While she was being held up as a role model to the student body I asked her who were her role models growing up?
“My parents of course, (Charlie Mae and McDuffie Gilliam)” she said, but “I’ve also grown up with outstanding women as role models who were worthy of respect and admiration.”
Included among those women would be her 104 - year - old grandmother, Willie Irene Floyd.
She began naming women but didn’t want to leave anyone out and ended up saying, “All the women at New Bethel Baptist Church. They’d pat you on the back and say they were proud of you. They made it so you didn’t want to disappoint them”
At Spartanburg High she advises the Black History Club and in her Language Arts class she has sought innovative ways for students to learn about their past.
She said, “I like to incorporate history into language arts, to use the power of the spoken word of people like Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Obama.”
For her actions she was recently honored by radio station 107.3 JAMZ as an Upstate History Maker and she was named Spartanburg High School’s Teacher of the Year for 2008/2009.
After more than 20 years Jamison still loves teaching. The best part of the job she said “Is when you realize you have truly made a difference with somebody, when you see their excitement about learning.”
During her address she told the students they must earn what they want and “hatefulness will get you nowhere.”
Throughout her address she repeatedly stressed you have to earn whatever you get. She said, “I believe fervently that you have to earn what you get. I wanted to tell them that they have to earn the right to be leaders, don’t expect things to be handed to you.”
Other pearls of wisdom she offered included, “Instead of watching friends, go make some,” and instead of Facebook “put your face in a book.”
She stressed to the students that you must “work tirelessly to achieve your goals. You have to work for all you get.”
She explained there would be bumps in the road of life. “If you do poorly, don’t quit. Study harder and do better. Keep moving steadfastly towards your goals.”
She told them to always be aware of what they are doing because “someone is following you, using you as an example whether you know it or not, whether you want it or not.”
Following her address Jamison recalled she was asked to speak at the school a few years ago “but there was a conflict. This time all signs said do this.”
As a broad smile creased her face and a twinkle filled her eyes she said, “I got to go home and speak.”
lruss@hometown-news.com
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