Taught to teach a new generation

LOUISVILLE — Catherine Cox should have listened to God.

But the 25-year-old wasn’t paying attention — at least not at first — when she decided to leave her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to attend Xavier University in New Orleans.

“I hated it there,” Cox confessed. “I didn’t want to go back, but it was hard not to because I had gotten a full ride.”

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But when Cox discovered midway through her first semester that she was expecting twins, she turned around and went back home to Tuscaloosa to seek the support of her extended family in raising her children.

“Besides, I had started college as a business major because my dad said that there was no money in teaching,” she said. “But I hated accounting, and I always knew I was supposed to be a teacher. God told me a long time ago that I needed to be a teacher.”

So, this time, Cox listened.

And although she initially took a break from school, working a variety of jobs to support herself and her children, when Cox learned that her aunt, Roshedra McCradic — who already had children who were grown — was about to enroll at Stillman College, she began to think again about her education.

“What I really wanted to do was teach,” said Cox. “I didn’t want to wake up every morning and hate my career. I thought that if my aunt could go back to school at the age of 35, maybe I needed to look at Stillman, too.”

And she never looked back.

As it turned out, Stillman — the school right in Cox’s own backyard — was the perfect fit all along.

By offering a flexible schedule and online courses, Stillman made it possible for Cox to pursue her education while continuing to work full-time to support herself and her children. On May 10, she graduated as a Dean’s List Scholar with a degree in mathematics, which has allowed her not only to fulfill her dream of teaching, but also her dream of teaching math.

“I have always loved numbers and was always recognized by my teachers as a strong leader,” said Cox, who was on the math team in both middle and high school. “My heart was full that day.”

Preparing the way for aspiring young professionals like Cox is what both Stillman — and the PC(USA)’s Christmas Joy Offering — are all about. Cox’s Stillman experience was made possible, in part, by gifts to the Offering, which helps the school provide scholarships to promising students.

A cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s, the Christmas Joy Offering distributes gifts equally to the Interim Unified Agency’s Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color, including Stillman, and to the Assistance Program of the PC(USA)’s Board of Pensions.

Originally founded by the Presbyterian Church in 1876 as a training school for African American ministers, today Stillman College is the only historically Black college in covenant relationship with the PC(USA). A four-year liberal arts college, Stillman’s picturesque, 105-acre campus sits on the west side of Tuscaloosa, within the bounds of the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley and the Synod of Living Waters.

"Catherine exemplifies the very best of Stillman College’s mission to develop servant leaders who transform communities through knowledge, service and faith,” said Dr. C. Mark McCormick, associate professor of religion. “Her commitment to education, as both a teacher and a lifelong learner, truly embodies our Presbyterian values.”

And Cox’s Stillman journey in no way ended at commencement.

Shortly before graduation, Cox applied, interviewed for and accepted a position teaching seventh and eighth grade mathematics at Stillman's newest education partner, the I Dream Big Charter School, the first partnership between an HBCU (historically Black college and university) and charter school in the state of Alabama.

Having opened just this fall, Tuscaloosa’s first and only tuition-free charter school currently serves grades 6-8 with plans to add a grade level every year.

Cox has been following the “I Dream Big Charter” since it started as a summer program in Tuscaloosa and conversations first began about it becoming a charter school.

“We’re getting away from teaching students what they need to know to pass a test, but what they need to know for life,” said Cox, who fully embraces the new school’s mission. “We need educators who want to educate and who are here for the whole student. I want kids to wake up and be excited to come to school. The whole thing is God-aligned.”

And Cox isn’t finished with her own education yet, either. Alongside teaching full-time, she is currently enrolled in the Master of Education program at the University of West Alabama.

“Catherine’s life choices demonstrate her dedication to making a direct impact in young people’s lives while continuing to grow professionally,” McCormick said. “We are immensely proud of her accomplishments and know that she will inspire her students to reach their full potential.”

Cox said that Stillman’s close-knit community and engaged faculty were instrumental in helping her to succeed and to land her “dream job.”

“The first person who told me that I was going to be a great teacher was my adviser, Donna Winn,” she recalled. “And all my professors were like that. I love not just being a number on somebody’s roll. At other schools, you’re in a lecture hall with hundreds of people. Here, they notice. Here, they say congratulations. Here, they see you.”

She is grateful that gifts from the Christmas Joy Offering will help future generations experience “The Stillman Way” — “to do the best, be the best and have the best.”

“Stillman promotes the Presbyterian mission of education,” Cox said, “of giving back and of reaching out to those who are lost. That’s what Stillman does.”

And that’s what Cox herself will also do.

“Catherine's journey from Stillman graduate to educator,” said McCormick, “represents the transformative power of the Christmas Joy Offering's support for Presbyterian-related schools and the students they serve."