Tough Girls Raised in the South (G.R.I.T.S.) Succeed
Southern women are sometimes stereotyped as gentile, wafting through life without a care in their hoop skirts, but in reality, most of us are tough as nails or tough G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Raised in the South).
One such Georgia girl is Jessica Johnson. She and her husband, who she calls Johnson, moved to Turtle Cove last year. Jessica predominantly teaches special need students who range from those with special needs to physical disabilities at Ola Elementary in Henry County.
A Morrow, Ga. native, she was determined to graduate from Morrow High School even after the family moved to Butts County. After graduation, she married and moved to South Dakota. While in South Dakota, she enrolled at the University of South Dakota, but left with only three credits, after the birth of her first son, Nicholas, and later another son, Dallas. Raising the boys, having a small day care center in her home took up all her time, education was put on the back burner.
By age 28, she was divorced and back in Georgia with her two small sons and needing to support them. She was able to become certified as a substitute and get a job as a substitute teacher for Butts County schools.
Dr. Ellis, her mentor at Butts County, seeing Jessica’s natural teaching skills, but lacking a college degree and limited time, suggested that she attend an online college, Western Governors University, based in Salt Lake City, Utah which advertises as a low-cost, non-profit, online school.
One afternoon, waiting in the line to pick up her boys from school, she made the call to WGU and enrolled. Even while being a single mother and working full-time as a substitute teacher, she got her degree in only four years in Interdisciplinary Education and is certified to teach both gifted and special needs students.
Today, she is the Lead Social Studies teacher, meaning she is charge of all the social studies content and professional development for all grades at Ola Elementary.
Her dream of getting to be a teacher began when she was in the second grade and her teacher gave her a teacher’s edition guide of a reading book, so she could “play school” with her Cabbage Patch dolls as students. The seeds were planted, but it would take many years before the dream became reality.
With all but one student in virtual school now, she has met the challenges of keeping them interested without hands-on teaching. Instead of a pencil and paper, all learning is done on a home-based computer while she tries to observe the other students who appear in small videos at the top of her screen as she tries to see if they appear confused. Yes, the educational expectations can be taught to most via the computer, but establishing a relationship and giving the students confidence is very difficult in this environment.
Jessica has raised her two sons—Nicholas, who lives in South Dakota, will graduate spring of 2021, and become active in the United States Army with hopes of becoming a diesel mechanic, and Dallas, who attends Jasper County Virtual Academy, graduates in 2022, and also wants to study diesel mechanic at a tech school.
Her determination to succeed proves that she is one tough G.R.I.T.S.
