By Alyssa Haywoode
Photo by George Annan ’21

Celia Johnston Blue ’00 loves leadership.

“I love developing people and watching them go on to higher levels,” Blue said, “because as a leader, that’s what you want your folks to do.”

There is in her conception of leadership an interplay of lifting people and being lifted by them. There are the inspiring examples she sees in other leaders. And there are the challenges of gaining new skills to be able to take on new challenges. In this light, even hostility from others becomes a foundation for appreciating kindness.

So when Blue recalls emigrating from Jamaica to the United States at age 11, she remembers it as a time of learning about racism, of students calling her names and telling her to go back to her own country.

“But the light of that experience is that I had teachers who said, No, we’re not standing for that in our classrooms. And there were other classmates who wanted to know me. And I feel very blessed because my cousins, who also came to the United States, didn’t have teachers who stood up for them and weren’t able to make friends as easily.

Read more of Celia’s inspiring story on the Worcester State Magazine website.