Warren — Teaching her students about the importance of racial equality has earned Virginia Brinker, a teacher at Regina High School, the Rise Beyond the Horizon Mel Miller Memorial Award.
Brinker received the award from the Interfaith Center for Racial Justice in partnership with Macomb Intermediate School District on Jan. 17 at the 2011 Martin Luther King Celebration Dinner. The award is designed to focus on the importance in helping students “rise beyond the horizon” in vision and in action as they become the future citizens of the world.
It is named in memory of Mel Miller, a long-time Macomb County educator who sought to teach students the highest level of personal involvement in the pursuit of equality for others.
“Early in my career, I spent four-and-a-half years as a Detroit police officer in the Women’s and Children’s Services Section, but returned to teaching as a more positive force in the lives of youth,” says Brinker.
She has been a teacher at Regina High School in Warren for 22 years. Former students may also remember her from St. Peter Elementary School in Harper Woods, or from her nights of teaching for the St. Clair Shores School District. Peace, a basis in the founding of the all-girls high school honoring its Franciscan roots, was the groundwork of Brinker’s work in forming the 4PEACE Club three years ago.
It began with the encouragement of the school’s principal, Sr. Mary Leanne Leszczynski, SSJ-TOSF, who believed strongly that St. Francis’ example of peacemaking would guide the direction of the new club. “The United Nations uses the term ‘a culture of peace’ as so much more than the absence of war. The 4PEACE Club works to find all different sources and projects to promote this ‘culture of peace’ following our beautiful Franciscan tradition.”
In this group, “our student peace group began with an on-campus campaign called ‘Words Can Hurt; Words Can Heal,’” says Brinker. “The girls designed posters that addressed the issues and negative images of ‘mean girls’ in our culture and added slogans to encourage and maintain a culture of kindness with words.”
Using that thought, and taking it a step further, students developed a way to meet other girls in the school through “Mix It Up” day during lunch hour, where they were assigned different seats with the intent to meet and make new friends, she says.
“Mix It Up Day is the brainchild of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which supports teachers working for tolerance and respect among students,” says Brinker.
Catherine Solomon, a student at Regina who has had Brinker as her English teacher for two years, says Brinker “is a very compassionate teacher.”
“She has such a high care for her classroom and what she teaches,” Solomon says. “Through her stories and lectures, I have learned that not everyone has racial justice and that there are some who are still fighting for racial justice. I have also learned that even though our country is far less racist than it used to be, there is still racial tension.
“Ms. Brinker has helped me to open my eyes to the real world and see how terrible racism is,” she adds. “She has helped me to realize that everyone deserves racial justice.”
Karen Forys, assistant principal, and who nominated Brinker, says the staff was encouraged to participate in the nomination process, and “Virginia Brinker was one of the names that was put forth most frequently by her peers.”
“Ginny’s advocacy embodies all aspects of this mission and reflects the school’s philosophy of empowering young women to make a difference in the lives of others,” ‘she says. “In her classroom and through extra-curricular activities, Ginny encourages students and colleagues to be academic and empathetic, well-informed and action-oriented.
“In a society in which disparity of thought and means can be cause for heated rhetoric and senseless violence, Ginny is an excellent role model of dignity, peace, and the calm pursuit of harmony within the school and around the world.”
However, getting Brinker to accept the award was a whole other issue, Forys says. “When I first asked Ginny if she would accept the school’s nomination and allow us to enter her name, she said no. In her humility, I think she felt that there were other more worthy candidates and little reason for her to be singled out.”
Forys quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in her response to Ginny: “‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve…You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.’”
Not only does Brinker’s efforts educate the students, but it extends to the larger Regina community as well, says Forys.
“Generous with her time and resources, Ginny’s personal commitment to dynamic teaching leads her to share her knowledge with her fellow teachers,” she says. “She also promotes social consciousness among the staff by informing her colleagues of upcoming meetings, literature, and local activities that support the causes of peace and justice.
Another activity at Regina to further encourage peace across all boundaries is the Pennies for Peace project, a program written about by Greg Mortenson in his book, “Three Cups of Tea,” “which collects funds for peacemaking in Afghanistan and Pakistan by educating girls in those countries,” says Brinker.
“With Mr. Mortenson, I strongly agree with the African proverb that ‘If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community,’” she says.
Brinker continues to use her learning experience from her philosophy and theology classes at Madonna University as a guide in teaching her students.
“The study of Aristotle and Aquinas opened my mind to life truths that help explain the troubles and triumphs of the human condition. Teens are always looking for answers; literature presents questions.
“As students read about Homer’s Odysseus or Twain’s Huck Finn or Salinger’s Holden Caulfield, basic questions about life arise and, as in all good literature, the answers don’t come easy … sometimes we’re left with our own questions, which may have been the author’s intent in the first place,” she explains. “Nonetheless, we are enriched.”
