Karen Philips-Autobiography

My name is Karen Philips. I am married and have no children. My two brothers and sister grew up in a two parent family. My father was in the military so we traveled a great deal. From the time I was born until middle school we lived in ten different states. We finally settled in Milwaukee in the early seventies. Currently, I am the administrator at Robersons Kiddie Lane Day Care in Milwaukee. My mother opened Kiddie Lane back in 1989 in order to help take care of her grandchildren. The center quickly grew from a family center into a group center. I have been working at the center for the past thirteen years. After high school, I enrolled in UW-Milwaukee and finished in 1984 with a bachelors degree in African American Studies. Upon completion, I decided to pursue a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in community counseling. I graduated in 1987. While working in several community based organizations, I realized that many African American women arent prepared to pursue higher education. With this realization, I decided to return to school to become a certified school guidance counselor. I completed my certification and worked for several years in the Milwaukee Public School system in the At Risk Program before moving to a suburban district. In the suburbs, I was the Chapter 220 coordinator, a program that allows minority children to attend school in suburban districts at no cost to their families. Eventually, I was offered the opportunity to become the Dean of Students so I returned to school to earn my principals license.

I worked at Nicolet High School in Glendale until my father was diagnosed with cancer and my mother wasnt able to devote her full attention to the center and she asked me to help her out with the day care. At the end of the school year I resigned from my position as Dean of Students to become administrator of our family owned child care center. By this time the center had grown from a center that could care for eight children to a center that had the capacity for over 200 children. I found the transition from the high school setting to the child care setting some challenging; I had to change my entire way of thinking and my way of interacting with children. I was dealing with students that could express their wants and needs to children that were crying and throwing tantrums in order to communicate their needs. At this point in my life and career I am contemplating returning to school to pursue a Doctorate Degree in Educational Administration. I would really like to become a high school principal and eventually open a high school with my sister for At Risk students. With my certification in guidance counseling and social work along with completing the Inclusion Credential I felt I was ready to face the challenges of dealing with At Risk Youth. I was ready to deal with the students but I never thought about the problems that the staff will encounter when dealing with troubled youth. The Leadership Credential has opened my eyes to the components of being an effective leader and the importance of supporting staff. I also learned what real leadership is and why leadership is important. And most importantly I learned my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader and what skills I need to develop to become a more effective leader.