Paulette Roberts is the 2024 recipient of Republic's Woman of the Year Award, recognizing a strong woman who has blessed this community with her acts of service and unyielding positive spirit that continue to enrich us. This is the latest example.
A constant force for education, Roberts herself embodies living history in a variety of ways, not only when she gives historical presentations dressed as historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Maya Angelou. I am.
As The Republic's Brian Blair wrote in a recent profile, Roberts was only the second black teacher hired by the Bartholomew Unified School Corporation 54 years ago. Raised in the coal fields of Kentucky, she remembers her father marching with Martin Luther King, Jr., who visited the state capital, Frankfort, in 1964. Paulette's father told her and her siblings, “I'm doing this for you.”
Although Roberts retired from the classroom 20 years ago, she never really stopped teaching. Rather, her classroom has become our community.
She works to mentor students with even a few special needs through the Columbus Enrichment Achievement Program, a program she founded and continues to lead. She is also a tireless advocate for making our local Black history, in her words, America's history, clear to all.
Roberts has done these things and many more with a contagious joy.
“You have to be positive and want to participate,” she told Blair. “I think it's all about having a servant attitude. You know, helping others. And when you help others, it helps yourself.
“It makes me feel good. It feels so good to know that if I did something, it means this other person can contribute something to their theme.”
At 75, Roberts told Blair she feels like she's slowing down a step. She says she noticed this while walking the three-mile People Trail for an hour each day.
But you wouldn't know it from what some of the people who knew her best said about her many contributions.
“She has a whole vibe. … She deserves every accolade,” said Whitney Gaines, a fellow local educator and King Day Award presenter with Roberts. “She's an example of what it's really like to do this (community) work.”
Glenda Winders, communications director for the Columbus/Bartholomew County area branch of the NAACP, said Roberts “supplements the story of American history that needs to be told and complements what we already know about 'white' history.” It firmly but gently complements the above.” …She is a gift to this city. ”
That's an undeniable fact, as people of all ages who have met Roberts can attest. For more than 50 years, Mr. Roberts has made a difference in the lives of students and the lives of his community. She is one of the best examples of the virtue of lifelong learning.
The Republic salutes Paulette Roberts, our Most Deserving Woman of the Year.