Impact of Kelly Miller School on Students (On My Life) by Michael McGee

My family moved to Clarksburg in 1944 when my younger brother was born; I was 2 years old. Do not bother with the math – I’m 78. My ethnicity and age dictated that I attended Kelly Miller School, the segregated school, from 1948 to 1956 through grade school and junior high. With the Harrison County integration of schools, I transferred to Washington Irving High School.

I indicated my age just to imply that I am in the homestretch of life, but also to reflect on some of the lessons learned during my lifetime, particularly things learned that did not come from books. I attribute most of those ‘life-lessons’ to time spent at Kelly Miller. Two of those lessons learned were: A sense of belonging in this world, and a sense that I could achieve any/all aspirations.

To be fair, it was not the school that resulted in those strong life lessons, but the teachers. I remember that a large proportion of those teachers earned advanced degrees. That had no meaning to me while at school, but on reflection in my later adult life things fell into place.
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During my college and early corporate training classes in the 60’s, there were few minority students – often only 1. Yet I knew I could endeavor because of that ‘sense of belonging’. I had learned sentence structure and the conjugation of verbs, Shakespeare, word derivatives (Latin), as well as a background in STEM.  All were helpful in classroom and training classes. Yet, there was a stronger sense that I could achieve whatever target I set.  That was a reflection of those teachers from their discussions and lectures, not from a lesson itself.  Philosophy and psychology are not my strong suits, listening was and is.

​Kelly Miller and its teachers prepared me for life. I guess most of you feel the same about your school experience, but this was unexpected from a black, segregated school in the 1940’s. The success of our alumni (some older than me) attest to that.