Profiles in Parent Leadership: Richa Jethwani
RICHA JETHWANI IS A MOTHER AND GRADUATE OF PARENTS WHO LEAD. WE ASKED HER HOW THE PROGRAM CHANGED HER LEADERSHIP -- HERE'S WHAT SHE SAID.
4/11/2019
Can you share a little bit about your background?
I am a proud parent of two boys (ages 10 and 7), and very proud to be the wife of a wonderful husband. I was born and brought up in India. I worked there as Head of Department in a college for six years before moving to the UK, where I stayed for three years, teaching in a school and university. Currently, I work for UNF in the School of Computing. This is my fifth year. I enjoy teaching and helping students.
I have always loved to help the community and to work as a team. Things are different here than my home country, but I always believe if you want to learn to grow you can learn anywhere and anytime. I was raised by very strong parents. They always say, "just keep on going, we are with you and we know you can do it."
I wanted to get involved in Parents Who Lead because it teaches you to work in a team, to help others, to be respectful and always think of the community. What else can you ask for? I love this program and I'm so honored to be part of it.
Before this program, did you consider yourself a "parent leader"? Why or why not?
I thought of myself as parent leader, because I was helping other parents and myself go through some issues. Now that I've gone through the program, I think myself as community leader. This program has given me so much strength and confidence and made me feel that we can do it -- we can make a positive change.
What is your project, and why do you believe it’s important to children in Duval County?
My project is "Diversity: the Art of Thinking Independently Together," and I am very sure it will help so many students and parents, especially immigrant parents. My project is to design a portal to be connected with the county website. It will have FAQs related to almost all questions parents have when they plan to select a school for their kids when they're moving to a new country or state. I will be asking questions from almost all parents of the county and then filter the questions so that parents will have the information about schools and will be confident rather than being stressed.