A special teacher, Carey Phillipps
Special educator Carey Phillipps is getting ready to leave the island on another mission overseas. She is excited about this trip to Perkins School for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts where she will deliver a series of lectures before heading to Biloxi, Mississippi, to work on orientation and mobility training at a camp for the visually impaired.
“The invitation to Perkins is a real honour for me as this is one of the biggest and most prestigious schools for the blind,” she said in anticipation.
All Woman didn’t really need to ask what motivated her for her chosen field of study and occupation, it radiated from her face. “I enjoy teaching, and I love children,” she beamed.
The first West Indian to serve on the International Board of Directors, Council for Exceptional Children in the area of visual impairment, Phillipps was elected to the chair of director at a convention held in Kansas City, Missouri last month. This being her second attendance and the first person to be elected from the Caribbean makes the appointment all the more celebratory, not only for her, but for us as a region.
“The Council is the biggest international organisation for the enhancement of children with special needs with 50,000 members internationally. As a director, I will work specifically on two committees, the publication committee and the international relations and diversity committee.” Phillipps shared. In addition, she will liaise with other Caribbean countries, to increase communication between them in relation to existing programmes for the blind and visually impaired population.
A teacher at heart, Phillips loves to share and more than that, she loves to learn. “I enjoy imparting knowledge and I also love to study,” she offered.
The well-established young academic told All Woman of her short two-year experience in advertising before beginning her successful journey in special education.
During her advertising tenure she had an interesting hobby, that of sign language. This hobby eventually stole her heart as she decided to do a diploma in special education specialising in learning disabilities at the Mico Teachers College, at 19 years old.
Having completed that, she went to the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she did her bachelors degree in special education, majoring in multiple handicap conditions. The programme there was much wider in scope than what was offered at Mico, and Phillipps took advantage of this.
She advises that as a special education teacher the more knowledgeable you are in more areas the better it is. She later went to Holy Childhood Junior High School, a co-educational high school for children with learning disabilities where she served as vice principal for two years, and this at the age of 24.
The very ambitious Phillipps later decided to pursue a masters in special education and educational administration at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. At the same time that she was invited by the Barbadian Ministry of Health to be a special educator there.
She later worked and held positions in special education at the Ministry of Health’s facility for the developmentally delayed and multi-handicapped, the Children’s Development Centre in Barbados.
Upon finishing her masters, and having worked with children for some time, Phillipps returned to Jamaica, “which was always the plan,” she says. She is currently a special education lecturer in visual impairment and blindness at Mico Teachers’ College.
She speaks of the “sacred impact” of teaching teachers, highlighting the far-reaching effect of training the minds of tomorrow’s trainers. She is also associated with the Salvation Army’s Programme for the Blind and has affiliations with the Rotary Club of Alabama.
Continuing her quest for knowledge, Phillips is presently studying to become a vision specialist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. This she says is like the combination of the job of an ophthalmologist and a special education teacher.
Essentially, she will develop a scientific/biological understanding of the blind condition as well as the principles and approaches to educating such persons. And she already has all the help she can get from her wealth of experience in special education.
The 30-year-old scholar is a newly- wed of five months who exclaims that she thoroughly enjoys being married. While motherhood is further down the road, she plays with her friends’ children, for now.
She and her husband love to watch movies, go out to dinner, listen to a variety of music, visit with friends and spend time together. She also loves the arts, paintings, drawings, and loves to cook and entertain friends and family. She places special emphasis on the importance of friends and family and that some of her dearest friends she has known since prep and high school.
Phillipps will probably always be studying and there is nothing wrong with that. She advises that as long as people ensure that they are well rounded and not neglect any area of their life, it can be a good thing.
She enjoys acquiring knowledge (likening herself to a sponge when she speaks of the learning experience), which is probably why she has done so well in her academic pursuits and teaching practice.
“Carey is very energetic and organised. She does not mind travelling to places to learn and teach. She has attended international conferences in Vancouver, British Columbia (2000) and Kansas City, Missouri (2001). In Kansas City, she presented a poster session for dual divisions in international teaching and visual impmairments,” Mary Jean Sanspre, president of the Council for Exceptional Children said of her colleague and friend.
Phillipps is clearly a testament of the possibilities attainable, if one is passionate, determined and focused on achieving one’s goals. She testifies that with prayer many things are possible.