On April 19, RWC held a ceremony to honor two of its best alumni. One began her higher education at RWC as a young woman who had doubts about pursuing her college degree. Today she helps other young students believe in their abilities as a speech/language pathologist. The other is a man who helped create the college’s Black Student Union more than 30 years ago. Today he helps create educational opportunities for workers at General Motors.
Both of these successful people received degrees from RWC and are now honored by RWC for their accomplishments. Each year the college honors former students who have accomplished great things and who share their abilities with others.
Acie Walker attended RWC more than 30 years ago and was instrumental in creating a Black Studies program and a Black Student Union. He served as president of the Black Student Union and represented an even broader segment of the student body as a student senator.
Walker graduated in 1970 with an Associate’s degree is Pre-Law and went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in education at UC’s Clifton campus. After that, Walker went on to earn a master’s degree in professional studies at Xavier.
Walker says that he remembers RWC as a place where the professors take special interest in the students. He says he looks back fondly on his interaction with faculty and his fellow students.
He also remembers being part of a campus volunteer activity that involved speaking with students at Cincinnati’s Taft High School. “We were talking about college, and I said, ‘Have you heard about Raymond Walters? It can prepare you for a four-year education. I’m a living example,'” Walker says.
“Raymond Walters got me on the road and gave me a map as far as how to deal with people. I learned all kinds of leadership skills there that have really helped me in what I do today,” he says.
As a joint trainer at General Motors Service Parts Organization in West Chester, Walker puts those people skills to the test. In his career at GM, he has coordinated the ongoing educational services relationship between GM, the United Auto Workers, and Raymond Walters Professional Development Center. He leads training for all eligible GM/UAW employees, retirees, and their spouses.
Kelly Sheeran Montchai worried that she couldn’t make it in college. It took her mother and her brother encouraging her–over and over–to enroll for night school at RWC. Then, as she says, it took the support and encouragement of RWC’s faculty to keep her here.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think I could do college,” she says. “I guess I still have somewhat of a self-concept problem, since I don’t understand how I could’ve won this award,” she says with a laugh.
Montchai worked full time in her brother’s optometry office during the day and took evening classes at Raymond Walters for the first two years. “I finally got to the point where I told myself I could do this full time,” she says. After succeeding at RWC, she had gained enough confidence to believe that she cold complete her Bachelor’s degree at the Clifton campus in Communication Disorders. However, that posed a further challenge, she says, because to work as a speech and language pathologist Montchai would have to continue her studies and earn a Master’s degree.
Montchai decided she could do it. And not only did she complete her undergraduate and graduate degrees, but she did so with more success than she could have imagined. She was selected for Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude from UC.
But her success didn’t stop there. For the past nine years, Montchai has been working with students in the Deer Park school district as a speech/language pathologist. She receives rave reviews for her skills in evaluation and devising treatment strategies for students with communication problems.
She recently brought a student to RWC to show her around campus and help her grasp the reality that college was doable. Today that student is in her second year at RWC.
“We think highly of Kelly, her abilities, her determination to succeed, and her genuine concern for others” say Judith and William Baughin, professors at RWC.