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|
Stephanie
Gross
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| Karen
Waters and her daughter, Kelsey |
Waters’
mission runs deep
By
Katherine Jackson
Karen
Waters has been a bus driver, a consultant, a teacher, a wife
and a mother — all while working toward a dual degree in
history and teaching from U.Va. It’s been a 20-year trek
to her procession on the Lawn May 20.
Waters,
37, credits her educational success to supportive teachers, such
as Eleanor Wilson, assistant professor of education in U.Va.’s
Curry School of
Education. Wilson taught Waters as part of the Piedmont Virginia
Community College/U.Va. teaching fellows program.
Says
Wilson: “Karen represents and epitomizes the best of our
future teachers. She extended herself in a variety of quiet yet
significant ways to help and mentor other students.”
For
her efforts, Waters received U.Va.’s “outstanding master
of teaching award” in April.
Flexible
jobs also helped Waters attain her degree. One such job included
a stint as a Jaunt bus driver for elderly and disabled residents
on weekends and nights.
For
safety reasons, Waters donned boyish-looking attire during night
shifts as she and her sleeping daughter traveled the city and
surrounding counties.
In
addition to her for-pay jobs, Waters has spent time volunteering
in several area schools and been involved in more than a dozen
civic organizations. She’s also not afraid to stand up for
her rights.
Although
rental fees were waived while she was president of U.Va.’s
Housing Association at Copeley Hill, Waters took on the administration
to get lead-based paint removed from their buildings. U.Va.’s
Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
intervened, and the lead-abatement project was successful. That
act led Waters to a position representing state Sen. Emily Couric
at forums and meetings until last summer.
Like
other nontraditional U.Va. students, Waters was hesitant about
returning to college because she hadn’t done well during
a previous attempt in 1980. Friends and colleagues at various
places where she worked and volunteered encouraged her to enroll
at PVCC.
Waters
and fellow PVCC transfer student Colleen Higgins were part of
the Philip Morris Teaching Partnership program, a collaborative
effort between U.Va. and PVCC to train teachers through U.Va.’s
five-year master’s in teaching program.
While
working at U.Va.’s Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American
and African Studies, Waters renewed her interest in history. She
recently received the Albemarle County Historical Society’s
Rawlings Prize, an annual award that honors outstanding essays
on local history. The paper was her senior thesis for her history
B.A. Its topic was residential segregation in early 20th-century
Charlottesville.
After
graduation, Waters plans to put her community organization skills
and her education to work at a local non-profit organization.
The first in her immediate family to graduate from college, she
has a 3.8 grade point average. Her husband, Samuel, also will
receive his doctorate in microbiology from U.Va. And daughter
Kelsey is an honor student in the second grade at Venable Elementary
School, where Waters has done volunteer work.
Although
it took Waters 20 years to earn her degree, it’s been an
invaluable experience. “It’s never too late to get an
education. I am still very much a work in progress and believe
my best still lies ahead.”
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