Download - The Taft School

Vision forTaft
Global
Literacy
Jamella Lee Takes Students
from Learning to Leading
was a law student in Ohio
when a colleague called and said, “I have the perfect
job for you.” That job was at Taft, as chair of
the Global Service and Scholarship Department.
“My passion has always been effecting change
through education and service,” explained Lee.
“As I worked and traveled throughout the world,
understanding the importance of the law in making
that change came into sharper focus for me,
so law school made sense. My goal was not to
practice law, but to make my work in service and
education more meaningful.”
And just as law school marked a logical
progression in Lee’s personal and professional
development, so did the position at
Taft. Established in 2007, the Global Service
and Scholarship Department formalized Taft’s
commitment to service and global learning by
fusing rigorous academic study with experiential
service—a description that mirrors Lee’s
journey to Taft.
“Becoming chair of the Global Service and
Scholarship Department pulls together everything
I have ever done; all of my intellectual
passions are met here.”
Service and Learning
Lee grew up in a small rural town in Texas thinking she would become a
doctor. As an undergraduate at Cornell she became involved with a number
of programs serving young people in upstate New York, including the Ithaca
Youth Bureau and the local 4-H. As graduation approached, she applied to
two very different programs: either would prepare her well for a life of continued
and meaningful service.
“I was accepted by both City Year and Harvard’s Graduate School of
Education,” Lee notes. “I deferred Harvard and went to Ohio to serve as a
corps member and service leader at City Year of Columbus.”
City Year was founded in 1988 on the belief that even one person could
make a difference and that young people in service could have a significant
impact. Since its inception, City Year has been at the forefront of the national
service movement, leading to the establishment of AmeriCorps, the
passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and the creation of
Voices for National Service.
When her year was up, Lee went on to Harvard, where she earned a
master’s degree in education. While there, she worked as an elementary
school teacher in Cambridge, a facilitator in the Harvard Summer Literacy
Institute and as a language and literacy specialist at the Dorchester
Neighborhood Charter School.
With bags packed and degree in hand, Lee was bound for Washington,
D.C., where she had accepted a position at another charter school.
“Before I left for Washington I got a call asking if I might consider a new