Mathews was recently elected by her fellow school board members to her second, one-year term as president as the five-member group overseeing the 8,200-student city school system.
Mathews was lead pastor of Truth & Life Church in Hamilton for six years before it closed in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. The Hamilton native is known for mentoring youth and her efforts to stop youth gun violence.
The former Hamilton Citizen of the Year told school officials she had a personal reason to pursue the two-year degree.
Her brother, Calvin “CJ” Simmons Jr., 37, a father of five girls, was shot dead in his home in 2016.
“I want to be a part of change and help understand the legal system and process,” Mathews told Miami official. “My brother was murdered here in Hamilton and his case is still unsolved. For me, it moved me to get further involved, and this was my way.”
Mathews and her best friend, Chancy McKinzie, began attending classes at the Hamilton and Middletown campuses in 2023. Both were degree candidates during last month’s commencement ceremony at Miami’s Millett Hall.
“It was something to take in and be in that atmosphere and to put on that gown and sit amongst every student who has made sacrifices,” Mathews said. “Everyone in that room has a story,” she said, “and that was the moment it was all worth it.”
“We discussed how cool it would be if we went back together to help encourage each other, be a strength, and keep each other accountable because, face it, school is tough,” she said. “So, to have someone with you, to walk with, and know exactly what you are going through was everything.”
She told school officials the two friends spent countless nights writing papers to meet deadlines during those two years of classes.
“We were both full-time students while working full time and taking care of our kids and other life responsibilities,” she said, recalling how McKinzie had helped her over the years, including staying up with her sick daughter but still plugging away to meet school assignment deadlines.
McKinzie’s mother, “who is like a mother to me as well,” said Mathews, made sure they ate when they traveled back and forth to class and their shared journey to their degrees included other challenges.
She said they spent many days and nights on her couch doing homework as McKinzie cared for her mom as she battled cancer. Mathews lost her own mother in 2023.
The two-time board president’s education continues at Miami this winter semester as continue her studies with the aim of potentially doing advocacy work or eventually working in forensics on cases that have gone cold, such as her brother’s homicide death.
“It’s never too late to go after your goals and dreams. If I can do it, so can you, because I have been where you are and walked down a lot of the same paths and made it through. I allow my life to be an example of what is possible.”
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