By Howard Campbell, Gleaner WriterIF THE story that has been told by her family over the years is accurate, then Beverley Mills was destined for a life in the classroom.
"I was told that I came home from school one day when I was four years old with all these ticks in my book and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said a teacher," the bespectacled Mills told The Gleaner.
Mills' dreams were eventually fulfilled and education, and the Trench Town Comprehensive High School in Kingston, have been the better for it.
Mrs. Mills, who teaches English and office procedures, has taught at the school, located in the strife-ridden constituency of south St. Andrew, for 35 years.
Yesterday, as she sat in the institution's computer room, the banter of noisy students at lunch filled the halls, a stark contrast to the previous week when schools in the community were closed due to renewed fighting between gangs.
The hostilities may have shaken up younger members of staff, but not Mrs. Mills, who has seen her share of warfare since she first worked there as an intern in 1969.
"I've been here with men on the roofs (who were) firing shots and it's like watching a war movie or cowboy movie," she said. "My children tell me all the time to give it up and I do think about it, but what happens is that you meet a group of students and you fall in love with them and you say 'Alright, mek a work with them'."
Although she earned a diploma in secretarial studies from the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST), now the University of Technology (UTech), and a Bachelor's degree in education from the University of the West Indies (UWI), teaching at Trench Town has been Mrs. Mills' only job since leaving the St. Joseph's Teachers College.
At the time, Trench Town Comprehensive was only six years old; it had a shift system and an enrolment of 1,500 students. Today, there are roughly 600 children on the roster, most of whom are from South St. Andrew's war-torn pockets. According to Mrs. Mills, getting parents to be more attentive to their children's education, remains a major problem for administrators.
"I don't think we get enough participation by the community. When we have parent-teachers meetings, not many parents come," she told The Gleaner. "But a lot of these parents are very young... in a lot of cases I'm teaching children of children."
It's not been all bad, though. Dorseta Taylor, one of Mrs. Mills' former students, went on to lecture at Harvard University. Others, she points out, became doctors and lawyers or made a name in corporate Jamaica.
The first of eight children, Mrs. Mills hails from the district of Chudleigh in Man-chester. Moving to Kingston, she attended Ardenne High School before moving on to St. Joseph's where she earned a teacher's certificate.
Though the area had a reputation for being tough, she has fond memories of her first year at Trench Town which at the time was the only school of its type in the community. It also had a strong football team that included Devon Lewis and Herbert 'Dago' Gordon.
"Even though Trench Town wasn't the Trench Town it is today, I still had some apprehensions because it was an inner-city community but when I came in I was pleasantly surprised. I soon found out that there was nothing to be afraid of."
The recent flare-up in violence gained national attention and was reason for many, including Mrs. Mills' four children, to be afraid. She says they were on the telephone to her several times begging her to quit. But that's easier said than done after 35 years.
