Source: The Royal Gazette — Click here to read the full article online

Three names most readily come to the fore when I’m asked to cite the most continually highly productive women of the year 2011, which is rapidly drawing to a close.

They are Paula Cox, Sheelagh Cooper and Constance Ridley Smith.

Paula, of course is the indomitable Premier of Bermuda. Sheelagh is the founder of The Coalition for the Protection of Children, which this year alone has served some 30,000 nutritious meals for 250 odd underprivileged children through the Coalition’s school breakfast programme.

Constance, or Connye (Connie) as she’s better known, is Coordinator of Training and Professional Development for the Bermuda College; and among other things is author of a series of books, including an audio book and soon to be published e-book. She’s an accomplished musician and organist at two churches, being the Southampton Seventh-day Adventist Church and Allen Temple AME Church, Somerset. Over and above the demands made on her at her regular college job, and by the churches that fully occupy her weekends, Connye found time this year to volunteer to lead the college’s student music group that has made its own impact this past semester.

Considering that Paula is both Premier and Minister of Finance we can imagine that the demands ordinarily made on her have been enormous. They have been extended by the countless social, cultural, parliamentary and party caucus engagements she has been duty bound to undertake. And over and above there were the thousands of miles jaunting overseas on government business.

It was 20 years ago that Mrs Cooper founded the Coalition for the Protection of Children to tackle the issue of child abuse in Bermuda. And she through her charity, has worked, tirelessly and significantly, without pay, over the decades providing a wide range of prevention, intervention, treatment and after-care programmes and services to children and families. These have included a child abuse hot-line, financial assistance and conflict resolution.

Mrs Cooper said she gained an understanding of the connection between how people are treated during their childhood and the way they live their lives in adulthood, from her studies for an undergraduate degree in psychology from Queen’s University in Ontario and a master’s degree in criminology from the University of Ottawa.

Another facet of Mrs Cooper’s busy schedule this year has been her concentration on The Centre for Community and Family Mediation that she founded and engages as a Division of the Coalition. It provides hundreds of couples every year with family mediation services. Also she was a founding member of the Christian Housing Ministry, Habitat for Humanity Bermuda; and she continued this year to be chairman of the Family Selection Committee for the organisation. In addition, she has been, as usual, involved in coordinating the 100 or more volunteers who contribute some 2,000 hours annually working for the Coalition for the Protection of Children.

Regarding Mrs Smith as one of the most significantly productive women in Bermuda during the year 2011, I took note of how her regular job as the Bermuda College’s Coordinator of Training and Professional Development meshes so well with her interests outside the college. She explained: As Training Coordinator, she is responsible for looking at organisational issues and recommending a training solution, when possible, or some other intervention when it is not; and having the wisdom to know the difference. She also helps to coordinate the right professional development activities that will keep faculty and staff abreast of current trends and thereby, be better able to do their jobs.

The books she has written and her audio books especially, “There is Nothing New Under the Sun”, and “Stories That Teach”, are aimed at helping to make the general population more aware about current trends. The stories cover issues like self-esteem; family communication; coping with grief; and other topics that children in today’s families may wrestle with. Children, like adults in the work place, bring the “whole self” to the classroom. The unresolved issues they face can creep into their productivity, level of engagement and their grades, she said.

Much of her time this year has been devoted to the production of e-versions of her books, due for circulation in 2012.

Connye holds a BSc in Music Education; a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Technology. She was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. It was while attending high school there that she met her future, Bermuda-born husband Larry Smith. He was a graduate of Saltus Grammar School and had gone to Tennessee to gain credits for his eventual admission to university there. They married and are parents of two daughters, Ashley, aged 27, and Amber, 24. Larry works at Tucker’s Point Club.

This year Mrs Smith has published Volume 1 of her ‘Stories That Teach’, entitled ‘Robyn’s Nest.’ It is named for an eight-year-old girl who had thumbed through stories she had written. “She asked for a set and rather than produce 12 individual books I packaged six stories and discussion guides for Robyn and her mom, calling it Robyn’s Nest. Volume 2 will be called Club House.”

Mrs Smith says she had used those stories with her own children during their family time. She also shared them with students that she taught at school. “They were first self-published as small picture books. I would let students select from a stack of them and watch them lose themselves in the pictures and the stories.

“The popular title was the “A-Kids Activity Book for Children Who live with Asthma.” It contained stories, puzzles, word searches, and an asthma-awareness song. It was endorsed by my own daughter’s paediatric allergist. I would give free copies to any child who had asthma so that they could learn about their condition. Word spread fairly quickly around the school; students would bring their friends to get a free copy of the book for kids who had asthma.”

The Stories That Teach are about putting emphasis on positive goals on the front end of issues, being proactive, and reinforcing those positives to young people as they are growing and, perhaps, wrestling with difficulties and by giving them the tools to cope, we help them to develop life skills, giving them a bigger safety net.

In that respect, Mrs Smith pointed out, “I have a team of young people in Bermuda who reviewed the compilations before printing. The Stories That Teach series received their stamp of approval. They will maintain an online presence to “blog” and “dialog” with young people about the book topics on a safe and monitored website. For more information, they may email her at constancersmith[AT]gmail.com

The Royal Gazette, 2 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM-08, Bermuda

Source: Kirkus Reviews — Click here to read the full review online

Smith, daughter of the titular coach, examines and remembers historically black Pearl High School and its famous basketball coach.

Basketball might be the centerpiece in this first of two volumes on Pearl High School and its legendary coach, but the many intangibles leading to the program’s dramatic success describe the book’s essence. Smith is the daughter and unwavering supporter of Coach Cornelius Ridley, who, for more than 20 years, served as mentor, disciplinarian and sometimes father figure to Pearl’s students, ballplayers and eventual men. This first volume chronicles the 1960s, described as a journey from segregation to integration. Smith deftly alternates between depicting the outstanding basketball program and the man who brought its excellence to the fore. This, in turn, is skillfully interwoven into the school’s rich history, complete with portrayals of dedicated educators and cohesive neighborhoods. The author’s analysis and quality research blends well with her personal touch. Basketball fans and archival buffs alike will appreciate the proficient use and display of news articles, interviews, photos, letters, box scores and even Western Union telegrams. The text’s tone suggests an earnestness that seems to have been handed from father to daughter. Smith can sometimes be overstated in her occasional black-and-white representations of items like character, values or relationships, but even a casual reader would expect this type of writing with a familial connection. This distraction is slight and certainly doesn’t take away from the author’s adept examination of critical, enduring issues. Smith discusses basketball equally well with the Secondary School Study of 1940 or Nashville’s mathematical formula for determining desegregation numbers (both listed in the appendix). It is, indeed, her examination of such issues that merges so well with a story that is attentive, nostalgic and just plain fun. One item that seems curiously missing, at least for the dedicated sports fan, is more coverage of the 1966 historic ballgame—Pearl’s championship in the first real year of integration. The account, otherwise, is a definite must for various libraries and repositories, especially those involved with sports and history. Includes end notes, references, appendices and index.

A detailed, dedicated and enjoyable remembrance.

Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744 • indie@kirkusreviews.com