I was fortunate. My grandparents were Irish immigrants who taught their children that education was the way up and out. I also had a mother who was determined to see her children become successful. So, when Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove, Florida, (El Jardin) opened their school in a magnificent 1920s mansion my mother made an appointment, and armed with my report card, she said "I have a very smart kid. Will you give her a scholarship?" Well...they did. What a generous gesture on both sides. I was the beneficiary, and I think my life's work is proof that the investment my mother and the nuns made in me paid off to some degree .
Carrollton taught me that words can change the world. When I attended, the school used to be called Carrollton Convent of the Sacred Heart, but I suspect the girls complained the word "convent" was stifiling their social lives. I think their dads were just fine with the word "convent." It's worth seeing the Carrollton slideshow and also visiting the links at the bottom of the page to learn more about El Jardin. You'll see how "The House" was in the days I was there. The girl in this photo is my daughter, Elizabeth. I wish she'd been able to attend Carrollton, but we live in Virginia. Still, I'm glad I got to take her there.
Before I left for college in 1964, Claire McGowan, RSCJ, asked me what I planned to study. I said I was going to be a math major, and she looked startled. “But you don’t like math.” She didn't add that I was terrible at math.
Mother McGowan (now they are called "Sister") asked why in the world I would choose math. I explained that my sister, Sandy, was a mathematician and my parents expected me to be one, too. Now, everyone has a favorite teacher, and when I was in high school, Mother McGowan was mine. She taught me the elements of writing.
Once, when I was getting too carried away, she wrote on the top of my essay, “You sound like Cotton Mather.” Mother McGowan explained that everyone has distinct gifts and suggested that I might consider a subject I loved rather than one I loathed. I think that’s pretty good advice, so I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Trinity College.
While my children were young, I wrote non-fiction articles for children’s magazines and volunteered in the local library. When I received the “Arts Feature of the Year” award from Highlights magazine for an article about James VanDerZee and the Harlem Renaissance. Mother McGowan was one of the first people I told. She said she was very proud of me and told me that she shared the article with an African-American mom who wanted to know what Carrollton taught students about Black history. I was validation she said.
I went back to school and earned a Master’s Degree in English from George Mason University, got a job writing for Engineering Times (pretty terrifying), and founded Blue Pencil Editing where I was commissioned to work on the Justice Department’s Violence Against Women project. I can’t imagine having the courage to have done any of this without the encouragement of strong role models.
Today, I am the editor for the National Head Start Association , a non-profit association that advocates for America’s poorest children. This year alone, we have one million children in the Head Start program. My work may help to convince a lawmaker to support impoverished children and families. Eight years ago, I enlisted the help of another Carrollton graduate, Yanik Fenton-Espinosa, to ensure that Spanish-speaking Head Start parents are informed. Yanik, too, learned to love words at Carrollton.
We must be doing something right because NHSA’s board of directors just passed a resolution to translate as much material as possible into Spanish. My sons, Tom and Michael, launched their website commontales.com to encourage people to save family stories, photos and other mementos before they are lost forever. They partnered with NHSA to donate their services forever to the Head Start community to save Head Start success stories. The first person stories at www.commontales.com/headstart are quite moving.
“Caritas Vincit Omnia” is engraved on the rings Carrollton’s first graduates wear. Mother Dora Guerieri, our Latin teacher (also our History teacher, and our Logic teacher--everyone did "triple duty" in those days) explained it means “love for others,” the Golden Rule. That’s what Carrollton taught me to try to live up to, and that’s what I have tried to pass along. (I was as terrible at Latin as I was in logic and math, but in the end these things seem to work out).
Here I am on graduation day (note the laurel wreath in my hair). The blue ribbon is for being on the student government and the white satin ribbon around my neck holds my sodality medal. White gloves were required for all special events.
