LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Gloria Menifield was nominated by her sister, Linda Jackson.

"Growing up, I had a strong desire to be a teacher. I can't really think of anything else I wanted to do with my life," said Jackson. "I often 'played school' with my siblings, where, of course, I was the teacher. I loved numbers and facts and instructing others. But I didn't grow up and become a teacher. My sister, Gloria, did. I realized there was something I lacked that Gloria had: creativity, charisma, and a carefree spirit."

"Gloria never asked to be the teacher when we played school," said Jackson. "When she went to college, she majored in social work because she wanted to help other children the way we had been helped as children growing up with assistance from the social work system. So it surprised me that after a few years of working in that field, Gloria left her full time job and returned to college to study elementary education. She told me she wanted to be a teacher. She wanted to have a bigger impact and reach more children on a daily basis."

"While I was excited for and very proud of my sister, I had no idea what a huge difference she would make in the lives of so many children, beginning with our own nieces and nephews in the Mississippi Delta where we grew up," said Jackson. "Gloria went back home to teach because she wanted to make a difference in a place where she saw one of the greatest needs, a place where few people, if given a choice, even want to live, let alone begin a career. Some fifteen years after Ms. Menifield taught in the Mississippi Delta, some of her former students still talk about the impact she had on their lives."

Since then, Ms. Menifield has brought her creativity, charisma, and carefree spirit to any school where there is a great need. She has worked in other Title One schools in Jackson, Mississippi, Canton, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, and now, Southaven, Mississippi.

"Having been a volunteer at the school where Ms. Menifield now teaches, I can tell that fifteen years from now, there will be former students raving about the year that Ms. Menifield was their teacher, just like those students from her hometown," said Jackson. "She knows how to use her creativity and charisma to make a difference. It's her carefree spirit that helps to change lives."