Seven years ago, the new instructional coach at Catholic Partnership Schools was struck by the warm welcome she received while visiting the organization’s five PreK through eighth-grade schools.
“I was greeted by so much love and enthusiasm,” said Jameka Walker, referring to the school communities of Saint Cecilia in Pennsauken and Camden’s Holy Name, Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph Pro-Cathedral, as well as the Dual Language Pre-K at the Community Learning Campus at Saint Anthony. “From day one, like them, I felt very much at home.”
Flash-forward to this month, and Walker is now beginning her third year as the partnership’s executive director. Her position might have changed, but her outlook for CPS and the people she serves hasn’t budged.
“Our families understand that the path to success is a quality Catholic education,” she said, adding that at the five schools, parents know their children will learn the value of “working hard, loving God and giving back to the community.”
In advancing this mission for CPS’ 882 students, Walker has been named a finalist for the 2023 Opus Prize, an annual faith-based humanitarian award that recognizes social entrepreneurship. The prize, which comes with $1 million to the winner’s organization, will be awarded Nov. 9 at Villanova University. The two runners up will receive $100,000.
The recognition “is a tremendous testament to Jameka and her leadership, impact and respect of the community,” noted Denise V. Monahan, CPS’ board of trustees chairwoman.
“It is quite an amazing honor, a testament to the impact a CPS education provides, and the hope Jameka instills and leads for our students, families and community,” she continued.
Walker’s roots can be traced to New England, where her family “valued education and had a strong belief that God gives us a gift and [that] we must use it to better people,” Walker said.
She received a high-quality education and became a teacher. One reason she was drawn to the field was witnessing a lack of diversity in the inner-city Catholic school her children attended.
A self-described teacher at heart who finds education “the perfect way to honor God and use my gifts,” Walker’s first opportunity in the classroom was in North Philadelphia, where she discovered resilience, hope and academic excellence in her students, many of whom came from families lacking resources.
In Camden, she sees similar attributes among the students. Under her leadership, the five schools have maintained a high school graduation rate of 99 percent and a college enrollment rate of 87 percent. The high school graduation rate for the City of Camden is around 60 percent.
Walker is quick to share recognition with the CPS students, their families and the schools’ staff, calling all “passionate in our shared belief that every child is deserving of a high-quality education.”
This past February, Villanova University selected from a pool of nominations three Opus Prize finalists for “their work in championing faith-filled change and their efforts to solve the world’s most persistent social issues.”
The other two finalists are Kristin Schroeder, MD MPH, co-founder of the International Cancer Care and Research Excellence Foundation, and Bishop Paride Taban, founder of South Sudan’s Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron.
In June, university delegates spent three days on site visits of the partnership’s five schools, meeting with staff, students, families, donors and trustees, and witnessing what Walker has known all along: “Our work is life-changing. There’s a lot of good work being done here. It’s something beautiful, to see parents so enthusiastic and grateful that their children are here, and to see teachers who genuinely love their students, and are comfortable with and excited about sharing their faith.”
Walker says that if she were to win the Opus Prize, the $1 million would go in part toward continuing the partnership’s mission to provide families the opportunity of a Catholic education.
“The Biblical stories [and Scripture] I learned in school still sustain me today,” Walker noted, quickly adding a much-remembered passage from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The partnership families “are choosing Catholic schools because it is very much a community; parents want to engage, and they want their children to engage,” she said. “That’s the Catholic difference – everyone is working for the betterment of the children and the family.”
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