Euthemia Gilman

As a Haverhill, Massachusetts native, I enjoyed 38 years in the Haverhill Public School System as a teacher, supervisor and principal. I became the Principal of Silver Hill Elementary School - I had been a teacher there for 8 years. With collaboration from the staff and parents of the Silver hill community, we successfully established Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School. the school rose from state receivership to a top Level 1 school for ten years. During my undergraduate years at Boston University, I studied in my 3rd year at the College Year in Athens. The year enabled me a global view of the world and strengthened my roots to Greece. My father was born in Athens and my mother's mother was a Greek refugee who fled Turkey 1913. My mother was a public school teacher and I followed in her footsteps....I married a public school teacher and principal. My son is currently a public school teacher. In the words of Horace Mann, a Massachusetts native and the Father of Public Education: "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the greatest equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of the social machinery."(1796-1859) I have also enjoyed teaching at Northern Essex Community College and being the Elementary Teacher Coordinator. It is important to encourage students - especially those who are the first in their family to attend college - to seek the public service of education.