In any one day, Monica Walls-Butler might be setting up a tea for young girls, helping teenage boys learn to tie a tie, taking voting-age teens to the polls, helping facilitate peer-to-peer discussions or mentoring a student. As a family and community engagement liaison for Springfield Public School District 186 at Southeast High School, Walls-Butler is always looking for ways to help students find direction, break down barriers and plan for their futures.
Several students nominated Walls-Butler for this year's Women of Influence. One said, "We call her 'Ms. Gets Things Done' because that's what she does; she makes promises and opportunities happen."
Walls-Butler just says, "I don't do things for recognition. I tell students to pay it forward. I have the baton, and the baton will be passed on to them."
She has implemented many different programs over her 20 years in the district, serving at every level. While working at the elementary level she started Take Your Fifth Grader to College and invited parents on visits with their children to learn about attending Lincoln Land Community College or University of Illinois Springfield.
Students to the Polls convened students from all area high schools at Lincoln Library to help them understand the election process and ways to ask candidates questions. Parents were included, too.
Walls-Butler says, "Sometimes the parents need the information also and come away wanting to learn more."
She recognizes that her own journey came about due to someone helping her see her potential.
"I moved out of home at 19 and worked in a bank," she said. "Then I went to Lincoln Land. A teacher took me to visit colleges."
That experience helped her make choices that have served her well. She attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale, earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and later received her master's in public administration at University of Illinois Springfield.
A few years ago, her husband died. Not knowing what to do with his "hundreds of ties," as she says, she got the idea for Ties to the Community. She rounded up teen boys, gave each a tie, and invited men from the community to teach them how to tie a tie. What followed was discussion about dress, etiquette and dressing for a job interview.
A Young Men's Roundtable Lunch brought teen boys to meet with successful men in the community to discuss the character of a good man, how to be a man of your word and how to be a protector as well as a provider in relationships.
Another program, Tea Time Talks, came out of listening to some teen girls talk about the issues they faced.
"I set it up as a nice tea so the girls could learn etiquette, and we engaged in discussions about who they are and who they want to be, how to make good decisions and how you can turn around behaviors to achieve what you want," Walls-Butler said.
She expanded the district's Parents as Partners program by convening girls who were pregnant or already had children. They meet once a month and speakers cover topics such as services available, day care, physicians and general parenting. Walls-Butler added fathers to the program as well, saying, "They need to know information also and take responsibility."
Often, Walls-Butler works with students one-on-one. As part of the district's Making the Grade initiative, Walls-Butler meets with students, reviews their grades, finds out what might be causing them to fall behind and looks at strategies they can use to improve. She arranges for students who are doing well academically to mentor those needing more help.
To prepare students for some of life's challenges such as work and paying bills, she developed Welcome to the Real World, which offers a simulation of real life. Students pick a profession that has a salary attached; they then determine what they can afford for a car, housing, food and entertainment, as just a few examples.
When Walls-Butler was a student herself at Southeast High School, she was active in the Springfield Southeast High School Spartans African American Studies Club. After coming to Southeast as a staff member six years ago, she discovered the club had disbanded. She founded the ASE Club, which focuses on the power to make change, and members are expected to do community service. This spring, Walls-Butler is taking the group to Memphis to visit the National Civil Rights Museum.
Outside of school, Walls-Butler is active in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and serves as the chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of Illinois Women in Leadership. She has a 12-year-old son who is involved in sports, theater, Springfield Frontiers International and The Outlet. She makes sure he is kept busy with things that will help him make good choices.
"I believe in taking care of your community," she says. "I find this work so rewarding. Students have come back to see me. What the future will hold is a question. Walls-Butler's job falls under Title I, which is funded through the U.S Department of Education, recently abolished by President Donald Trump.
No matter what, Walls-Butler says, "I will continue to pay it forward for those I can."
Cinda Ackerman Klickna is retired from teaching in District 186 and had Monica in her English class at Southeast High School. She is proud of her former student.