Judi Hill spent two teenage summers tutoring her brother. She still shudders at the memory. “Could you imagine tutoring your brother?” she asks. But because she volunteered to do it, she did it the only way she knew how: full bore.
“He thought he was all that, and I thought, No, we still have two more hours to get in,” says the petite, doe-eyed 53-year-old. “It was the most trying two summers of my life — however, the most rewarding because he graduated.”
Following the example set by her mother, a single mom with seven kids, who simultaneously refused welfare and opened her home to friends and family in need, Hill has worked for more than 30 years to build a reputation as a helper and facilitator, someone who can always make it work.
“She’s just a teacher in everything that she does,” says Herberich Primary School principal Kathy Ashcroft. The two were elementary educators together 25 years ago. “She’s so great about people discovering things for themselves, but actually it’s through her guidance and her input that you say, ‘Oh, OK.’ You take ownership of it.”
Hill started out as a fourth-grade teacher when Akron was busing students to various schools in an attempt to diversify them. Her school, at the time, counted few African-American teachers. That job marked the beginning of a career intertwined with a passion for scratching out what Hill calls “barriers to education: sexism, racism, all the mindsets that cause misunderstandings.”
After a few years of teaching, she was encouraged to apply for a job focused on multicultural education and curriculum design. She and her team gathered representatives from local ethnic groups such as the Native American Society and ASIA Inc., as well as educators and administrators from the universities and Akron Public Schools. And then, they just … talked. And Hill listened.
“It was very powerful, because with those partnerships, we brought in some wonderful speakers, who illuminated some understanding for people,” Hill says.
She reached out to parents in the community as well, sending home a survey about Afro-centric education — and putting her office phone number on it. It sent a message: Hill stood behind her methods. “I helped them understand why we were looking at it, how it affected property value — poor schools affect your property value.”
She also ran with a state program, Parent Academies, that empowered parents to teach others about navigating the school system, covering things like state standards, discipline issues and communicating with staff members.
“They were a better voice than I could ever be,” she says. “It created this cadre of parents who now want to serve in a different kind of way.”
Her reach extended far beyond her initial investment. “I honestly do not believe I would be in my administrative position today if she had not been part of my support system,” Ashcroft says. “She doesn’t realize the impact she has on so many other people.”
Hill retired in 2009, and her school’s PTA just named a scholarship after her. Hill’s single-minded approach to education — How can we help the kids? — has won her an ocean of supporters. What started out as a small role representing Akron Public Schools at NAACP meetings turned into a vice presidency and lifetime membership with the civil rights group.
“Be careful about service,” she says. “I’m not good at sitting on a committee to sit on a committee.”
Then there was her role in Backpack Adventure, a free day at the Akron Zoo for school kids and their families that supplies children with backpacks full of free school gear.
“There were dads who hadn’t been to the zoo since they were kids,” she says. “We would not allow anybody to drop any kids off. We checked them in: No family, no entrance.”
As she replays the highlight reel of her career, her voice rings with passion and her eyes well up with tears. When asked how she makes the time for the committees, the boards, the mentoring and the volunteering, her answer comes quickly.
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” she says. “Whatever you put that much time and energy to, don’t you want it to be right? Don’t you want it to be great?”