SOME people are born to teach… reaching the minds and hearts of the young, to disseminate knowledge, to influence change, to command respect and trust, and to contribute substantially towards guiding their communities and achieving societal transformation.
A great teacher is also by definition an everlasting student; for, he or she who ceases to learn loses the capacity to teach… and that is what has often been said of Eugenie Naomi Williams by colleagues and associates in Guyana, in Barbados and now in Boston, Massachusetts, USA – that she is forever a student.

On June 10th at a ceremony in this historic city she was presented the C-Plan Lifetime Community Champions Award for continuous and outstanding service to teaching and considerably influencing the development of young people.
C-PLAN is the Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network whose selected Champions are individuals “who are disrupting the status quo in education to provide every child with a well-rounded and culturally reflective education, tirelessly advocating on behalf of our children, and promoting systems change…

“CPLAN sets the table for families to inform, influence, and advocate for practices and policies to improve educational outcomes for today’s most vulnerable students in all of our schools. It does this by parent leaders mobilising their peers through direct engagement in their schools and communities.
“CPLAN strives to define what a quality ‘whole child’ education looks like for children and works with policymakers, educators and community leaders to shape and achieve transformational and systemic change.”

Eugenie Williams,75, was born in Georgetown, began her education under Miss I. I. Friday at St. Ambrose School, Third and Light Streets, Alberttown, and won one of the very few scholarships to Bishop’s High School.
After successfully completing her secondary studies there, she began her teaching career at Central High School, tutoring teenagers while, still herself, an upper teen.
From Central High, she travelled to the United States (US) to attend the prestigious Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio; and thereafter the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico, following which she taught at St. Stanislaus College, at the time run by the Roman Catholic Jesuits.

She later completed the Diploma in Education at the University of Guyana (UG) and a Master’s in Education at the Northeastern University in Boston.
Her teaching and curriculum development skills have been widely recognised, as she has made indelible imprints on students and teachers in Guyana, Barbados and the United States.
In the Region, she was part of a team that graded annual exams for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). She has published several highly, informative Caribbean school texts for the Caribbean Conservation Association and for Longman’s Publishers in the United Kingdom. At times, students were fascinated that it was their teacher who had written the Longmans book they were using in class.

Mrs. Williams’ passion for education and educating has been the driving force behind her commitment to the thousands of students that she has taught, some of whom have ascended to positions of prominence in several countries… in finance, in politics, in banking, in industry, in medicine, in agriculture, in entertainment, and other fields.
Indeed, Dr. Frank Denbow of Guyana (and a number of other former students) can attest to no-cost lessons at her home which set him on a course to academic excellence.

The now very popular Barbados entertainer, Edwin Yearwood,can speak of the first song he ever wrote – about his teacher, which he presented to her, for it was she who made him apply himself to school work, which he had tended to neglect because he was always singing.
She warned him “you have to learn English Language if you intend to write good songs; and you have to learn mathematics if you hope to avoid others stealing the income from your songs”.
On arrival in Barbados in mid-1977, in her work application to the Ministry of Education, she requested to be sent to whichever was considered the worst secondary school on the island; and she was positioned at the Garrison Secondary School.

Following years of successes there,when the public perception was that Parkinson Memorial Secondary School had overtaken Garrison for the low-placed spot, she applied to the Ministry to be transferred to Parkinson.
Such a request initially encountered staff resistance, with the response being that a teacher wishing a transfer could not dictate whereto. Applications are submitted and it is for the Ministry to decide where vacancies exist and which of the applicants on file goes where.

The matter was brought to the attention of the then Chief Education Officer who ended the impasse by declaring that this applicant, with her experience and qualifications, could have been placed in the island’s top secondary schools when she first applied, but specifically chose Garrison… “Now, if she wishes to go to Parkinson’s, then send her there”.
Thus, so she went…. and little Edwin Yearwood was in one of her classes.
She managed to imbue students with a new interest in learning, not only through in-class application of her knowledge, experience and skills, but also free tuition at her homes – in Guyana, in Barbados and in the USA.

Students, some of whom have kept in touch, speak of her deep, no-nonsense love, her academic rigour and her high standards of excellence.
Eugenie Williams left Barbados in 1994, relocating to Boston and continued to apply her exemplary skills to both the Public and Charter School systems.
Not long following her entry into the Boston public schools system, she encountered a student reputed to be among the lowest performers in class, as well as the most ill-behaved.
She got close to the child and at year’s end, the girl’s academic performance had been transformed to outstanding, and at graduation she was the class valedictorian.

Following years in the system, Eugenie Williams was among teachers nominated from among thousands to contest for the accolade of Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. She did not win the title, but it was to her great credit that she was among the few shortlisted for the finals.
She retired from the Boston Public School System in 2012, and thereafter continued to be a transformative resource in education; and has led the noteworthy improvement of Banaker Science performance at the Massachusetts State Test over the past five years.

While still in fulltime employment (tutoring high school teachers), she continues free tuition at her home in the afternoons and at weekends; is extremely dedicated to her family and delights in the time she spends with her grandsons, rediscovering the world through their eyes.