under the sun
THE BRUNSWICK&EACON
THURSDAY. AUGUST 29. 1991
Union
Principal
Starts Year With New Teacher
's Enthusiasm
HY SUSAN USIIKK
Zelphia Grisscll was looking forward u> ihc open
ing of school this year with confidence and a
smile.
Alter a year as interim principal at Union Primary
School, she was appointed to the post on a permanent
basis in July. She welcomed the news.
"I have the same kind of enthusiasm 1 had the first
day I was a teacher," the Longwood native said in an
interview several days before faculty members were to
report to school in mid-August. "This has given me a
new lease on life."
Mrs. Grissctt says she likes know ing that the success
of Union Schix>l depends in part on her and that she is
to blame if it is not successful.
"If this school has a successful year, it is as much be
cause of the faculty and staff who have rallied behind
me as it is me," she said.
Mrs. Grissett came to Union five years ago as an as
sistant principal, moving from West Brunswick High
School where she had taught social studies and history
for 1 2'A years.
At first she resisted her placement at an elementary
school, when her experience was at the secondary level.
But a stint as summer school principal dealing with
grades K-12 convinccd her otherwise. "I had died and
gone to heaven and didn't realize it," she said. "I was
happy to come back to Union that fall."
Tins past year of transition was good for her, she
said. "There were a lot of challenges, but I needed that.
It was timely. I compete against myself."
In fact, at 40, she thrives on challenges, enjoys deal
ing with situations that are not routine ami that she
hasn't planned for that day.
"At a certain point in the classroom the challenges
weren't there any longer," she reflected. "I was ready
for a change."
"The responsibility ! have now is good for me at this
time. It is revitalizing," ."-he said. "1 think I'm better at
this than I am at being a wile and mother."
That may be, but she certainly fulfills those roles as
well.
"I'm still mama, chief cook and bottle washer" she
said, to a family that includes Lynn, her husband of 18
years; Megan, a sophomore at West Brunswick High;
Talya, a seventh grade student at Shallottc Middle; and
Lynn Jr., a first grade student at Union. But, citing a
lack of time, she recentl) "resigned" from helping in a
family business operated by her husband, who is also a
stevedore.
Mrs. Grissctt considers herself a "pretty good"
seamstress and recently took up wallpaper hanging.
She's learned to appreciate the therapeutic aspects of
yard work and enjoys reading historical romances. The
manual-type work she chooses in her spare time frees
her mind, she says, to think through ideas. Then she sits
\
SlAf ?? PHOTO BY SUSAN USMfct
UNION PR f. MANY SCHOOL Principal '/.elphia (irissett (left) meets a prospective volunteer. Palsy
Rushing of Sunset Reach, between completing preparations for a new school year.
" When they come through your threshold,
you give them everything you've got."
-Zelphia Grissett. Principal
Union Primary School
down to write, oflcn for one course or another.
' Professional Student*
Since entering the classroom as an educator, she
hasn't given up her own role a> learner. She says she
still has a great deal to learn in her new role, both about
the young child and being an administrator.
She's enrolled in the Principal's Kxecutive Program
ai the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Once
that's completed, she plans to continue work on a sixth
year degree with superintendent's certification.
Already this self-proclaimed "professional student"
has a master's of education in secondary social studies
from the University of South Carolina and a master's of
education in administration from the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington.
Hut soon het heavy schedule as a student \s ill slacken
when Megan starts college. "I have three more years to
he a professional student," says Mrs. Grissett. "Then
I'll have to lake it in hits and pieces."
In her high expectations ol hersell and others Mrs.
Grissett is very much a child ol the parents she speaks
ol with obvious respect and affection: Alease Gore, "a
beautiful black woman," and Harlie Gore, "a tall, big
honed man, a wise man." She adds, "lie's always told
me to do the best I could, but to keep tilings in perspec
tive."
The oldest of three girls, she went to l.ongwood
Elementary School, then Union High School. Hut uith
voluntary desegregation, in ninth grade she those to at
tend Shallotte High School. During that year her mother
went to work outside the home. The Shallotte school
bus stopped two miles from the Gore home, l or halt a
year, Zelphia Gore walked the two miles.
The following year, with her mother still working,
she returned to Union, "with no regrets."
"I had some good experiences there." she said, "in
cluding an opportunity to attend Governor's School."
That summer on campus led her to attend college, "a
dream come true". In her VA years at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro she earned a bachelor's
degree in history, and "always the obedient daughter,"
teacher certification in social studies, at her parents'
urging.
She had no intention of teaching, though. When she
came home that winter, degree in hand. "I had contact
ed the Air Force about officer training school," she re
calico, a broad smile crossing her face at the memory-.
"Bui when the recruiter called the house, my mom told
him I wasn't interested. Then she tore up the materials."
Her parents then made her "heat the bushes" lor a
job. She ended up as in interim lilth grade teacher lor
three months at the end of the 1972-73 school year.
In her five years at Union she has grown to appreci
ate the importance of the primary school level and the
responsibility of those teachers. "This is where it all be
gins," she said. "If they gel a g<x>d start here..."
She hopes that her enthusiasm will be as contagious
among faculty and staff as it once was in the high
school classroom.
And she wants her staff to be committed. "It's a big
challenge. I take a hard line on people who come and
mark time." she said, a hint of steel creeping into her
voice and profile. ' t's a moral thing there for me. It's
our future we're dealing w ith. If you can't cut it, move
on."
Her approach to the profession is as straightforward
as Zclphia Grissett herself:
"If you become an educator that binds you to do ev
erything you car. do lor the child *uh whom you arc
entrusted, to use all the resources you have available.
"When they come through your threshold, you give
them every thing you've got."
CH aftmfe Interiors
/ s
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