Sheila Armstrong, Parent Advocate, Awarded at Family Involvement Conference
Sheila Armstrong, a SPAC Parent Representative and parent of two boys at Spring Garden School, was recently honored with an award at the annual Family Involvement Conference in Harrisburg. Read on for Ms. Armstrong's thoughts on the award and parent engagement.
On Sunday October 16, 2016 I was honored to receive the Konrad Lindenberg Memorial Award at the Family Involvement Conference in Harrisburg for my leadership in developing community partnerships.
Now you may not know me personally but if you did, you would know that I don’t expect to receive awards for my work in the community because for me, the work I do comes from my heart!
I have been working in advocacy for 10 years sharing my story of how I was an at-risk teenager who lived in a house with a father addicted to crack. I was abused as a child and saw a lot of horrible things; because of this, I started lashing out at school. As one teacher told my mom at a report card conference, I was a smart student but my behavior was horrible. I walked around with a chip on my shoulder because I was angry and hurt. As a child I didn’t know who to turn to or where to look to get the help I needed to deal with all the issues I had from being mentally, physically, and sexually abused. At the age of 15 I dropped out of school because I left home. I was tired of being abused and I did whatever I had to do to survive in the streets. The only thing that I did not do was sell my body because I finally felt I owned me! I am not proud of some of the things I did while living in the streets, but it is the reality that I was living at the time.
At the age of 18 I went to a nursing assistant training program that gave high school dropouts an opportunity to receive technical skills to attain a living. I also wanted to get my GED so I could make my mother happy. While attending GED classes on nights and weekends, I continued to work as a certified nursing assistant, which I enjoyed because I loved helping my elders and the disabled. Unfortunately, in 2003 I was involved in a domestic violence situation that left me battered, hospitalized, and because of my injuries I cannot lift anything over 30 lbs. I became a client of Women Against Abuse living in a shelter and to me… I finally hit rock bottom!
But as I share with many, what you consider to be rock bottom can sometimes be the biggest blessing in your life! At Women Against Abuse I was able to get the counseling I needed to deal with all the anger, pain, and hurt I had inside of me from years of abuse. The counselors encouraged me to go back to school, which I did, and in 2013 I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in organizational development. I chose this because I have a vision to open my own company and nonprofit that will provide assistance to other at-risk teenagers to get the help they need and develop the job skills they need to be successful!
Today, I use my story to tell government officials, administrators, educators, and anyone willing to listen: Don’t be so quick to write us at-risk, behavioral problem students off!
Talk to us, find out what is going on with us, because as children we do not know how to express the emotional, mental, physical, or sexual pain we may be experiencing in our lives. And one of many things I learned from my personal experience and my work in advocacy is that “Hurting people hurt other people!”
As a parent leader and education advocate, I believe that when we start looking at the whole child and not just academics, focus on empowering parents with resources to deal with family concerns and encourage them to become advocates in their children’s school and build stronger relationships within and outside the school community, we will not only see a significant change in our students’ academics but in our school communities!
Yes, it will take hard work but with faith and hope, positive communication, and dedication from every citizen in our great city and state we can make our education system great for our children because they are worth it and our future deserves it!
