32 minute read
By Jenn Memolo
from HBJ Nov Issue
Liberal Arts Education at UAH Inspired Alumnus Scott Hightower to Give Back Through Endowed Scholarship and Community Service
It all began with a summer spent lifting concrete blocks.
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Scott Hightower (B.A. Political Science and Philosophy ’75) started his college career at another institution as a pre-med major. After ending up on academic probation and spending a summer moving concrete blocks while contemplating his future, however, he transferred to The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, to be closer to home and pursue a degree in political science and philosophy. “It was a summer of reflection, a crossroads moment, and my perspective shifted,” Hightower admits. “There was an expectation that I would go to medical school, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. And there’s nothing wrong with hard labor, but it can give a view of what one wants to do versus what one has to do.”
What he wanted to do was study the humanities, and his formative experiences at UAH and his passion for the liberal arts inspired him to establish the Scott Hightower Endowed Scholarship through a planned gift. The scholarship will cover tuition, fees, books, room and board, and other expenses for undergraduate or graduate students pursuing degrees in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHS). Hightower chose to give because “it’s something we should do to help the next generation of students and hopefully plants a seed of giving back as they make their way through life after college.” He chose a planned gift specifically because “a planned gift like mine from an estate perspective is a great way to allocate your assets according to where you think it will help the most in the future. It feels like an investment into the next generation without the expectation of a thank you. It’s just there for whoever needs it.”
Hightower also recognizes that the cost of a college education is rising. “Knowing the value of an education in my own life, and seeing the rising costs – that’s what inspired this scholarship. This is for folks who don’t have the support or means. If anything happens – a car breaks down or you have a medical emergency – it can throw you financially. I’m so grateful for my education and the affordability of it at the time.”
The education he received at UAH, Hightower says, was life-changing. “The liberal arts is about reasoning and learning, instead of memorization,” the alumnus notes. “It teaches you a way to think and to use critical thinking skills.” That high-quality education was impacted by talented and engaged instructors. “The professors were really good,” Hightower confirms. “They were intense and had high expectations. Professors like Dr. [Carolyn] White in political science, or Dr. [Robert] Burns in philosophy – they were amazing. In class we had thought-provoking conversations.” The content, too, was influential. His exposure to the Socratic method and symbolic logic has influenced his professional and personal decisions, including his philanthropic convictions. Hightower says the high level of instruction he received “made me curious for life” and promoted a love of lifelong learning that has continued to this day. “Having an education is important,” he explains. “The goal is to be challenged in different ways so you don’t get stuck. It keeps your mind agile.”
This approach to life and the ability to ride the line between interpersonal and technical skills has carried Hightower to professional success. As a senior director for BlueCross BlueShield, Hightower stresses his liberal arts background gave him a unique and valuable set of skills that allowed him to address complex and technical details across multiple groups. “My educational experience provided me the ability to navigate conversations and corporate politics and work with different leaders and leadership styles. I had to work with different types of people and in different states.”
Part of successfully working with different groups of people, Hightower maintains, is learning more about them and their cultures. To accomplish this, he worked with BlueCross BlueShield leadership to create employee resource groups of like-minded, like-cultured individuals in the company, such as a group of people from south Asia. The goal, he says, was to establish a supportive corporate culture that embraced diversity, acceptance and inclusion. “I learned a lot from sponsoring those groups,” he admits. “It really helped me to understand my own biases and cultural ignorance on certain topics.”
Ultimately, Hightower says his liberal arts education gave him a key advantage: “A lot of people I worked with were more educated than me, but I had insights they lacked and they valued that. It gave me the confidence to do what I wanted to do.” That confidence stems from Hightower’s ability to remain flexible in the job market. “You might have instruction on a specific topic, but it’s old news in a few years. The pace of change is so fast.” Hightower says his ability to adapt is
By Jenn Memolo / Photo courtesy of UAH
what kept him viable in an evolving job market.
Now that he’s retired, Hightower is applying those skills learned in the corporate context to the mounting concern of homelessness in Chattanooga, where he spends much of his time. As a stroke of good fortune, he read an article about UAH alumnus Taylor Reed’s (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ’16) involvement in the launch of ShowerUp Huntsville. ShowerUp is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides mobile showers, personal care and hygiene supplies to the homeless and has locations in Chicago, Wichita and Nashville. “I called him [Reed], he drove down and we spent a Sunday talking. I was impressed.” Hightower says he loves the concept: “It’s a fully-integrated service the homeless are missing.”
That conversation inspired Hightower to research how he could implement something similar in Chattanooga. “Homeless numbers in Chattanooga have tripled since COVID, so it’s a growing problem,” Hightower notes. After a conversation with a member of the Chattanooga Sheriff’s Department, however, Hightower shifted the way he thought about the issue. “The bigger question is how do we prevent homelessness in the first place?” Hightower then learned about a California program that offers a recuperative care location for the homeless. “Homeless individuals are often ‘frequent fliers’ in the emergency room,” he shares. “After receiving medical care, there’s no place to discharge them to and there’s no continuity of care with their medication, so they end up back in the ER.” Hightower explains the California program uses a renovated hotel with nurses and social workers to help the individuals recover. “There are also other resources to help that person get a job and a place to live. It’s a 90-day model to help the homeless return to a productive life,” he adds. This formula, Hightower says, is appealing to law enforcement, local government, hospitals and insurance companies and could be subsidized by the costs normally expended in repeatedly treating these patients. “Now I’m contemplating how ShowerUp would be a complement of this bigger system,” Hightower reveals. “This could be an aligning model for everyone to decrease costs and positively impact humanity.”
When speaking to others about the decisions he’s made, Hightower often shares the story of his summer of reflection and his choice to transfer to UAH as one that forever changed the trajectory of his life. “When I was first in college, I went through a period of time where I wondered what was going to happen in the future and what I was going to do,” the alumnus acknowledges. “It’s something we all go through at some point in our lives, and we shouldn’t be afraid to have that experience.” In fact, he sees that experience as an opportunity: “If you can look at your failures, you can find your successes.”
One opportunity gained, Hightower asserts, is his ability to give back – both to his community and to UAH. “The only way our country and society can get better is to ensure the next generation of students have a challenging and rigorous environment so they can adapt and change as necessary. Having a thriving and growing university in your community is one of the best resources you can have.” His experience at UAH, he says, was formative and is a major inspiration for wanting to support the university now. “In many ways, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity for a great all-around liberal arts education because it allowed me to pick a career path I enjoyed. I would challenge other liberal arts graduates to share their experiences and support the university in any way that works for them.”
As for that summer lifting concrete blocks? “I’m happy I survived it all,” Hightower laughs. “Now I’m having more fun than I ever have before.”
CTA box: Please contact the office of Development if you’d like to learn more about how to make your planned gift. w
How Huntsville Area Schools Stack Up Online
By Noah Logan / Photo courtesy of Huntsville City Schools
When considering what school to send their child to, many parents resort to using online resources to determine what the best option may be. While websites and online rankings such as Niche, US News and Great Schools can be useful, it is best to use them in addition to public testimonies and other sources of information.
The numerical scores and ratings assigned from these websites are often based on test scores. But this thinking is profoundly misleading, according to new and old research alike. Schools with the top scores aren’t necessarily the ones that help students learn more. On top of that, rating schools based on overall scores unfairly penalizes those serving more students of color.
For example, a paper published by four economists was among the first to rigorously examine the validity of the measures used by the popular third-party rating site GreatSchools. The paper was published after a similar report by Chalkbeat in 2019 showed that GreatSchools ratings effectively steer families towards schools serving more affluent, white, and Asian students.
While keeping this information in mind, it should still be comforting to parents how well public schools in the Huntsville area have performed in various school ratings resources. Madison City Schools is ranked the Best Public School District in Alabama for 2022-2023, according to a national education research group study. The report by NICHE placed Madison City Schools No.1 out of 138 school districts statewide, and 57th best of 10,571 school systems nationwide. Individual schools in Madison also fared well in the NICHE report, with all in the top tier.
The seven elementary schools in Madison City all landed in the top 10 of the school rankings. Mill Creek at #3; Horizon, #4; Heritage, #5; Columbia, #6; Midtown, #8; Madison, #9; and Rainbow #10. That's out of 741 elementary schools ranked statewide.
Discovery Middle placed 1st and Liberty 5th out of 397 middle schools ranked statewide. James Clemens placed 6th and Bob Jones 9th out of 365 Alabama high schools.
Madison City Schools Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said being in the top tier in every category is a "true community effort" that everyone can be proud of for achieving.
As for the other surrounding school districts, NICHE ranked Hartselle City schools as the #2 school district in the Huntsville area, Athens City Schools at #3, Madison County Schools at #4 and Huntsville City Schools at #5.
This article is meant to merely act as resource for those interested in how some of schools in the area have been rated and ranked against each other online.
Best Public Elementary Schools in Huntsville Area According to niche.com
#1 Mill Creek Elementary School: • Percent Proficient - Reading: 74% • Percent Proficient - Math: 81% • Student - Teacher Ratio: 14:1 #2 Horizon Elementary School • Percent Proficient - Reading: 74% • Percent Proficient - Math: 76% • Student-Teacher Ratio:15:1 #3 Heritage Elementary School • Percent Proficient -
Best Huntsville Area High Schools According to U.S. News and World Reports
#1 New Century Tech Demo High School • National Rank: 166 • Graduation Rate: 100% • College Readiness Score: 69.7 #2 Bob Jones High School • National Rank: 1784 • Graduation Rate: 97% • College Readiness Score: 44.4 #3 James Clemens High School • National Rank: 879 • Graduation Rate: 95% • College Readiness Score: 43.9 #4 Huntsville High School • National Rank: 1,719 • Graduation Rate: 91% • College Readiness Score: 39.9 #5 Madison County High School • National Rank: 2,382 • Graduation Rate: 96% • College Readiness Score: 40.5 #6 Virgil Grissom High School • National Rank: 2,791 • Graduation Rate: 85% • College Readiness Score: 33.9 #7 Ardmore High School • National Rank: 2,821 • Graduation Rate: 96% • College Readiness Score: 37.9 #8 Hazel Green High School • National Rank: 2,851 • Graduation Rate: 95% • College Readiness Score: 33.0 #9 Athens High School • National Rank: 3,012 • Graduation Rate: 89% • College Readiness Score: 25.7 #10 Buckhorn High School • National Rank: 3,505 • Graduation Rate: 97% • College Readiness Score: 30.0 *College Readiness score is a weighed average based 25% on the AP or IB participation rate and 75% on the quality-adjusted AP or IB participation rate. Both exams are used when applicable. w
When Bocar Group held a ceremony to mark the opening of a new plant, the ceremony highlighted the growth of manufacturing in Huntsville and North Alabama.
The occasion gave Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle reason to reflect on that growth, which has shadowed the ongoing population and business surge in the city and surrounding region.
Huntsville is now the state’s largest city and continues to expand.
“This week we went out to a ribbon-cutting at Bocar,’’ Battle said at the most recent city council meeting. “It is an automotive plant. Council President (John) Meredith and I were both out there, and it struck me as interesting that for years and years we’ve had companies doing advanced manufacturing who have moved to Mexico. This is the first time a company in Mexico has moved to Huntsville.
“So it was very interesting as we watched that process. They are highly robotic, they are definitely highlyadvanced manufacturing and we were very impressed with them.’’
Battle added that there were ”a lot of cities’’ vying for the relocation of the plant that will provide 600 jobs.
“So that’s a great thing for our community,’’ he said.
Such is the current state of the manufacturing industry in the Rocket City and the vicinity.
Another manufacturing building recently rose on the north side of 1-565 in Limestone County between County Line Road and Greenbrier Road. Buffalo Rock opened a new distribution plant in the general location of Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, Polaris and GE Aviation.
Bocar is located in Limestone County.
“A lot of these projects that consider Huntsville and other parts of the U.S., they’re going to hire thousands for new jobs,’’ Shane Davis, Director of Economic and Urban Development for the city, told the Huntsville Business Journal in an earlier story. “Some will be local and regional with an opportunity to secure those jobs and have a better life for their family. But there’s also a section of that project in most cases where 10 or 15 percent of the current workforce is going to get transferred from somewhere else to get that project or facility up and running.’’
Davis added their were several factors that attracted companies regarding employment: • Job growth could mean higher wage opportunities for workers • Davis said the city was “laserfocused” on keeping the job workforce on an upward arc • City administrators continually identify key locations for pos-
sible expansion • High quality of healthcare • Yearly transportation upgrades with checks to make sure workers have corridors to travel in and out of a city drawing from 16 counties including Tennessee • Short drive to larger cities such as Nashville and Atlanta • Lower cost of living than many metro areas • Quality of life, another focus of city leaders, with a vibrant entertainment scene and outdoor recreation
“(Companies’) most valuable asset is their employees,’’ Davis said. “Quality of life is huge. If they’re told, ‘We’ve made a decision to expand and, by the way, I‘m going to need you to move to Huntsville, Alabama.’ They’ll say let me look at it and want to feel comfortable about coming. That’s a huge decision. It’s got to be somewhere they want to be. That’s critical for industrial development.’’
An obvious link to continued manufacturing success is a viable workforce. A company that began operations earlier this year – the 501(C)3 non-profit Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center (AMIIC) – has among its goals a solution to aiding in supplying that workforce.
According to its website, AMIIC was established to accelerate the adoption of state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and build the North Alabama workforce of tomorrow by: educating and developing the workforce; promoting awareness, advocacy and assistance; and driving technology innovation through projects.
AMIIC and America Makes
recently co-sponsored the Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) at UAH. The two-day, sold-out event was so secretive that citizens of Cuba, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran and Sudan were not allowed on site.
“We are focused on supporting North Alabama’s workforce modernization and really accelerating the adoption of advanced manufacturing,’’ John Schmitt, founding Executive Director of AMIIC, said following the TRX conference. “We’re really more focused on the defense sector. With Redstone Arsenal and its commodities that it designs, develops and delivers, we believe fundamentally that Huntsville is critical to national security for decades to come.’’
Growing a modern manufacturing workforce that is ready for the field might require some special educational opportunities. According to AMIIC, 50 thousand students graduate high school in the state each year, 64 percent are workforce ready and 325 thousand don’t have a high school diploma.
By 2025, AMIIC claims 500 thousand highly-skilled workers will be needed in Alabama. The company offers team and individual training at amici.us.
“Our workforce needs some upskilling in the tools that will allow us to take advantage of the powers of advanced manufacturing, both to increase capability and most importantly to reduce developmental cycle times to stay competitive with (partners) adversaries,’’ Schmitt said. “Also, to relieve some of our supplychain resiliency challenges.
“We're focused right now on our early- and mature-level professionals, more in the engineering and design areas. We’re focusing heavily on digital engineering, model basis engineering specifically, and additive manufacturing because it’s an army priority at the moment.’’
AMIIC offers services to help its partners “leverage organizational skills, understand specific technology and workforce pain points, and share potential solutions.’’ The company adds that through partnering with “industry, academia, and government,’’ a community can evolve that “serves and strengthens North Alabama and its growing talent pipeline.’’
Mazda Toyota, for one, has job openings as it ramps up production on the 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid and the Mazda CX-50 among other projects and plans to employ up to 4,000. Other manufacturers, like GE Appliance in Decatur, are also seeking employees.
Schmitt said a good barometer to measure the health of manufacturing in the city and region is that the demand “is outstripping the supply of talented labor. I personally hope that’s an indicator of the volume of manufacturing returning to the United States.’’
The arrival of Bocar and its $176 million dollar investment perhaps underscores that locally. The new plant has 323,000-square feet of production and includes 18,000 square feet of offices, quality laboratories, a training center and employee services. By the end of 2022, 420 employees are expected to work on 21 different products.
“We are excited about the continued expansion of our investment in the US market, and we are confident that we will achieve significant growth here,” Ignacio Moreno, CEO of Bocar Group, said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The new plant will accelerate our development to a higher level, by introducing new technologies and enhancing our product portfolio. This will streamline the manufacturing process, improve quality and provide the best service to meet our customers’ needs and further expand our presence in this country.”
Added Battle, “Bocar Group led the way in the city’s efforts to develop a robust automotive supplier ecosystem, and their established presence drew many others to our community. We are pleased and honored to have Bocar Group in Huntsville.” w
Huntsville's Best Kept Secret for Small Businesses
By Ashlyn Grey / Photo courtesy of HMCPL
Many business owners search far and wide for ways to improve their business. Throughout all stages of beginning and maintaining a small business, local resources are vital to those who are determined to make their business thrive and will stop at little to achieve their efforts, but what if some of the greatest resources available, were just right under the tip of their noses?
One of the greatest and most well-kept secrets in assets for small businesses, are the Public Library Networks. From free Wi-Fi to access to limitless records, research, and local business history, the public libraries far and surpass mere dedication to the communities they serve.
Libraries are a key pillar of support for small businesses. Through providing programming, prototyping tools, and access to market research, they have also been shown to increase access to capital. As more libraries add coworking spaces and makerspaces, they are becoming even more appealing locations for entrepreneurs to get their start.
The Huntsville/Madison County Public Library (HMCPL) was founded in 1818, making it the oldest public library system in Alabama at over 200 years old. The HMCPL is a 10-branch system, with additions such as their Bookmobile and Outreach services.
“We serve all of Madison County, including Huntsville, Alabama's second largest metropolitan area known as the "Rocket City." We provide online services, computer training, an extensive digital collection, public-use computers, free Wi-Fi service, meeting spaces, and much more,” reads the HMCPL’s website.
Huntsville Public Library
Claire K. Aiello, IOM, Vice President, Marketing, and Communications of The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, shared on The Chamber’s partnership with the HMCPL.
“The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber partners with the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library to offer a number of professional development classes. Say you’re a company and you’d like to send your employees for training – we offer classes on Google Drive, Excel, and cyber security very often. We list these on www.hsvchamber.org.”, Aiello said of their efforts to help local and small businesses.
“The library is offering some great classes right now to support people who want to get back in the workforce. These include classes to build your resume and work on your interview skills, and these are incredibly helpful to those who haven’t been employed in a while or may be looking for a job for the first time. Many of our companies have openings right now, too, so this is a great time to look for a job. You can visit asmartplace.com to search job listings, and we will also host a ReLaunch Job Fair on Tuesday, November 15th with several companies present in one location,” continued Aiello.
Training the workforce in Huntsville and Madison County, especially as the community continues to grow, is one of the library’s priorities. They offer training in computer skills sought by local employers, completely free of charge. The workforce development lab is for those who need
assistance in fields such as creating an email address, building a digital resume, conducting job searches, and completing applications.
Tracie Collier, Workforce Development Tech for Huntsville/Madison County Public Library, spoke with the Huntsville Business Journal on the classes offered: “We offer workforce development classes that educate attendees on building things such as resumes and cover letters. We also have Microsoft Office workshops, that are about focusing on building those skills.”
“I enjoy helping people get from where they are to where they want to be. That is my main concern. Where they are, and where they want to be. It is a clean slate with absolutely zero judgement.”, shared Collier.
People incorrectly think that libraries are just for kids when they are actually one of the best resources anywhere for local businesses. By overcoming outdated perceptions and reaching out to the library, business owners can begin to utilize resources that help them succeed, such as the many programs offered by HMCPL.
“I would say that it is definitely not intuitive for people thinking of starting a business to start at the library. I think it is paramount that you develop key partnerships,” said Laura Metzler, Business Librarian, at the Cecil County Public Library, Maryland, in an interview with Bayonne Library.
“Easy-to-use research databases and software are essential to providing all-around support, helping entrepreneurs understand their niche and get their projects off the ground, whether it’s patent research for prototypes or market research and business plan creation for small businesses,” said American Libraries Magazine.
It simply is not easy starting a business. Ask anyone who’s done it and they will assuredly say it is far more complicated than simply finding a space to rent for your business and deciding upon its name. Business owners need knowledge across an array of topics. Cue public libraries. Aside from texts and multimedia on starting and running a business, libraries are also treasure troves when it comes to accessing sample business plans, model employee policies and subscription-based databases that provide community demographic information, industry trends or even sophisticated mailing lists—the kinds of resources that large corporations rely upon for success.
“It’s like we’re sitting on a gold mine,” Kristin McDonough, director of the New York Public Library’s Science, Industry, and Business Library, told American Libraries Magazine. “(Entrepreneurs) can reserve meeting rooms so they can meet their clients. We let them use cell phones in low voices in certain sections of the library. They can network after work and at our lunchtime seminars.”
The Huntsville/Madison County Public Library has a collection comprised of more than half-a-million items, and they circulate those items more than 2 million times every year to their patrons.
“The HMCPL has evolved as the shift in the role of public libraries has changed in communities nationwide. As a valuable community resource, the library connects people to social services, STEM and arts programming, Makerspace studios, workforce development training, media literacy, civic engagement and so much more. And as Huntsville and the surrounding communities grow, so does the demand for library services,” shares the Huntsville/ Madison County Public Library on its plans to evolve over the course of 2023. The Strategic Plan 2023, which can be found at About | Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (hmcpl.org). w
Judge Ruth Ann Hall Selected as 2022 Alumni of Achievement Honoree for College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
By Russell Nelson / Photos courtesy of UAH
HUNTSVILLE, AL – Ruth Ann Hall (B.A., Criminal Justice, 1986), a Circuit Court Judge for Alabama’s 23rd Judicial Circuit, has been selected as the 2022 Alumni of Achievement award winner for the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHS) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System.
Judge Hall was appointed to the District Court bench by Governor Bob Riley in 2007 and later appointed by Governor Robert Bentley to the Circuit Bench in 2011. Prior to her appointments, she handled litigation for 17 years on cases throughout Alabama with a concentration on civil defense in north Alabama. She received her law degree from Cumberland School of Law in 1990.
“I am passionate about access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and assistance for veterans and alternatives for those suffering from mental illness who encounter the criminal justice system” “So I started to see all the issues that were lacking, like the ability to help people in court view themselves in a different light, to view the problem as a medical condition and be active in their care. And basically take a holistic approach.”
Since taking the bench, Judge Hall has presided over the Adult Mental Health Court and the Juvenile Conference Committee (JCC). Additionally, she founded the Juvenile Alternative Court (JAC), the first of its kind in the State of Alabama, to address the mental health needs of juveniles in Madison County, to help those who need it most.
“I am passionate about access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and assistance for veterans and alternatives for those suffering from mental illness who encounter the criminal justice system,” the alumna says. “For the first 17 years of my practice, I defended people in business, insurance companies that had been sued, and I just got burnt out. I thought, there has got to be more to this than just money! And so I applied for a judgeship. But when I didn’t get that first one, I was just heartbroken.”
But, she reasoned, so often in life things work out the way they are supposed to, rather than what one expects or hopes for. When another judge retired for medical reasons, Judge Hall saw it as a sign to try again.
“I applied for that second position, and the Governor appointed me,” she says. “It was such a good thing that I didn’t get the first one! The judge who was retiring had started an Adult Mental Health Court and was not able to do anything with it after she had gotten ill. I’ll never forget my bailiff saying, ‘we have Mental Health Court tomorrow.’ I had no clue; I’m not even sure what that is! In Mental Health Court there are people who are normally first-time offenders who have a mental health charge, and we basically try to help them get their life back on tract. That’s how my involvement with mental illness got started, seeing people who were struggling with the system, jobs, doctors’ appointments, things they couldn’t understand.”
Judge Hall soon recognized there was a real need to approach the problem from a new perspective as a way of helping those who found themselves struggling within the system.
“Someone would have horrible side effects to a drug, and they just wouldn’t say anything!” she says. “So I started to see all the issues that were lacking, like the ability to help people in court view themselves in a different light, to view the problem as a medical condition and be active in their care. And basically take a holistic approach.”
The Alabama Circuit Court is the general jurisdiction trial court for the State of Alabama. It has jurisdiction to hear all felony criminal matters and civil matters where the amount in question exceeds $10,000. The court is divided into 41 circuits, each with a presiding judge. When the alumna was first appointed a District Court judge, she dealt primarily with juvenile cases, and witnessing the same sort of mental health challenges being faced by juveniles in the system was what inspired her to do some research, where she learned “there was basically nothing out there for them. We addressed the schools about this, and their specialized education plans were taken into account. There was a stigma about mental health, and that was often why they were behind in school.
“We are a very educated city, but you can’t be hospitalized here as a child – they send you to Decatur General,” the judge points out. “If there is not a bed available for a juvenile, they might have to go to Mobile, Gadsden or even Dothan. Sometimes we had to get the DHR [Department of Human Resources] involved, and I was really involved too. Most of the time you don’t label children with a mental illness, so we called it the Juvenile Health Court. It was the first time this had ever been done in the entire state, and I’m really proud of that!”
Judge Hall went on to establish a Veterans Court as well to meet the needs of veterans in the community who suffer from mental illness and/ or substance abuse issues. The alumna says the impetus that led her to establish a program for veterans came from a propitious encounter with a veteran in the Mental Health Court.
“When I became a Circuit Court judge, I lost jurisdiction over the juveniles,” she says. “I ran across a veteran in the Mental Health Court back in 2010 or 2011, and he would drive from here to Birmingham only to find out his appointment was cancelled. Then he would run out of his meds and miss his next appointment and couldn’t get them refilled. It had become a vicious cycle for him, all the things that he went through, and so I started the Veterans Mental Health Court program that I still run today.”
The Veterans Mental Health Court recognizes the special challenges veterans in the system face, such as mental illness, anger, physical pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can lead to drug abuse, homelessness and crime. Each case is assigned a mentor who is also a veteran and is certified through the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts, an advocate who supports the veteran throughout the entire process. The court is designed to handle cases involving veterans charged with non-violent crimes and offers diversion sentencing, which includes counseling and mental health services.
Judge Hall is a native of Huntsville, AL, as were her parents. “I have two brothers, both of whom obtained degrees from UAH, and a nephew who is currently seeking his MBA. Most of my family live in Huntsville. We still have Sunday lunch together every week. My mother has always been her children’s champion, convinced that there was nothing that we couldn’t accomplish.”
Looking back on all that she has been able to do to serve others, it was that belief instilled at an early age that has driven her on.
“I tend to talk very blunt with folks,” the alumna says. “The only way you are going to be limited is if you allow yourself to be limited! Don’t allow people to label you or put you in box. If somebody tells me I can’t do something, then I’m bound and determined to do it. You never know what may have happened in your life that is really a stepping stone to where you need to be. That’s how my experience with and working with diversion programs and mental illness came to be. It all started from that first day at the Adult Mental Health Court program. And so that has been a lot of my focus, to make sure these people can get treatment. That’s probably the thing I’m proudest of.”
As she looks to the future, Judge Hall doesn’t tend to dwell on day-today obstacles too much, but instead is constantly looking at the overall picture to find new ways to help make things better.
“There are great, great days and then there are days where you want to bang your head on the table,” she says. “But I love what I do. I don’t think I will retire when I’m first able to, because I want to be involved with this a long time. You can’t just look at one thing to make a difference, like the Veterans Court program. Did they use all their GI benefits for education? Are you able to work some? Because sitting at home doing nothing leads to depression. Maybe work in the community garden, work for Meals on Wheels, packing the lunches. Taking care of a criminal charge is one thing, but there are so many other issues. That’s why the programs have got to be holistic in nature.”
The judge says her favorite memories of UAH are “the friendships I made that continue today. You can’t beat the education you will get there. It’s a place that allows kids the opportunity go to college locally to get a fantastic education.”
If she could share one piece of advice with a current UAH student, her guidance comes ready to hand from her own life experience.
“Volunteer and give back to your community! It will be the most rewarding thing that you will do. And choose your career path based on your passion regardless of the salary expectations or the popular career options. The men, women and children that I have met during my years as a judge that desperately need mental health services or the veterans that feel that they are forgotten continue to be my motivation.” w
