Five Ph.D.ivas
by Nicole D. Smith
March 3, 2008
Left to right: Ellen Porter, Mavis Crawford, Pat Hill, Letitia Lewis and Cheryl Best
Five women are united with one goal in mind: earn a Ph.D. in leadership. The group of Clayton
County educators took on the challenge of being doctoral candidates at Capella University, an
online institution, and are receiving national acclaim. And all of the attention, the seemingly
endless work and the arduous studying started with one person and one vision.
In the beginning...
Patricia Hill, a consultative teacher at Riverdale Middle School, has always considered
herself to be a leader. So, it was no surprise that, of the five women who decided to earn their
Ph.D.s as a united group, she was the one who originally conceptualized the unique idea of multiple
women collectively going to get their doctorates, even though she admits her vision wasn't
completely clear at first. "I said ‘I don't know what. I don't know when. But we're going to do
something so different, that it will be noticed.' It felt that all of us going to school together
was just synergy."
Hill's zeal to do something different and work together to reach a common goal inspired Mavis
Crawford, the career technology instruction specialist at Riverdale High School, to think about her
future and her goals, ones that she says require a Ph.D. And, even after just having earned her
master's in special education, Crawford says she felt inspired by Hill to take on the biggest
scholastic challenge she's encountered so far. "When I talked to Pat [Hill] later on," she says, "I
started thinking about maybe it's something I really could do." Apparently, Hill, the
self-proclaimed preacher of the doctoral gospel, affected more than just Crawford. Three other
educators - Letitia Lewis, Ellen Porter and Cheryl Best - soon joined them.
Passion behind the Ph.D.s
Before long, all five educators searched within themselves and found the true reasons why
they wanted to get their doctorate degrees in leadership. And like those who remain true to their
passions, all of them say they let personal reasons guide them back to school. "You want to be a
master of your craft," says Best, special education department chairwoman at Rexmill Middle School.
"You want to go as far as you can so that you can go to the next level. If I'm going to push my
students to the next level, why not push myself to the next level? If I push my students to the
highest level that they can achieve, why not do it for myself?"
But for Ellen Porter, Mundy's Mill Middle School's chairwoman for special education and
teacher of eighth-grade mathematics and language arts, the infatuation for books and learning was
enough to bring the 30-year teaching veteran out of retirement after only leaving the work force
for four months. "It's just something I want to do. It's something I want to add to my
résumé. I feel like the studying part is not going to be lifelong. But the degree itself will
be." Still, Porter says that the influence and desire to have a Ph.D. came from someone before
herself. "[My mother] finished high school when she was in her 40s. I thought, ‘Surely, if she can
do that, I could go on and finish with a Ph.D."
For Letitia Lewis, an assistant Principal at Riverdale Middle School, returning to school for
a doctorate and taking on a new challenge was not about being
the best but
her best, which to Lewis includes her having a Ph.D. in leadership. But, Lewis says she
wasn't just earning a Ph.D. for herself but for the ones the really mattered to her: her students.
"I believe that if you preach to students, ‘You need to shoot for the stars,' or, ‘Do your best'
or, ‘Aim for the best,' then I think that it would be best if I was a role model in that capacity,"
she says. "I try to do everything I do the best I can do. I'm going to go for the best and go for
the top."
Five minds are better than one
Of course, earning a Ph.D. can be draining in ways that are obvious and beyond. It's
physically wearing. It's mentally strenuous. It's emotionally exhausting. As a result, these five
women decided to lean on the support of one another to get through the hard times. And, according
to Crawford, the tiring times were never few, and they were hardly ever far apart. That's why
Crawford is quick to justify having a study and support group through the entire Ph.D. process.
"When somebody is really down, we'll all call and say, ‘No, you can't quit right now. We're going
to help you get through this.' That is one of the greatest things you can say about us is that we
support each other," she says. "When you do it as a group, you don't want to let them down."
Best describes the study group almost as if it were a college sorority, with everyone's true
sisterhood manifesting when times get tough. "We have study sessions together. We stay up late
together. We call each other," she says. "It's pretty nice working together." For these five
women, no educational experience is ever too sacred to share.
Till the break of dawn
A common experience they've all shared is studying late into the night. In fact, when
Porter was asked how many hours a day she spends studying for her Ph.D., her answer was simple.
"Too many," she says with laughter. "You can spend four to five hours a day in classes and
studying." And for Pat Hill, those hours are often when everyone else is going to sleep. "I
study 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the morning and on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays, before and after
church." But Lewis says she tries never to let long, interminable nights affect those that matter
greatly to her, including the students she coaches. "Even though it's my choice to go to school and
stay up until 4 a.m. in the morning, it's not their choice," she says, "I make up my mind that I'm
going to be giving, happy. I'm going to be joyful. It requires sacrifice in more ways than one."
Worth every penny
According to Porter, all five women say they've gotten loans and hope for grants to finish
funding what they perceive as the ultimate in their crafts. Porter confesses that the pricing to
earn a Ph.D. is "a little steep." But Crawford adamantly states a consensus among the group. She
says she doesn't regret for a moment ever stepping into the Ph.D. world. "No one ever told me
I would've been working on a Ph.D.," she says, "and, yes, the pricing is a little steep, but let me
say this. It's worth it ... I'm enjoying what I'm getting from it."
