Walker pulls off impossible

A 29 year-old single mother of five kids returns to school to receive a four-year bachelor’s degree in 2 years? Come on, that is not even possible. Yet, “Jo Ann Walker often pulls off the impossible,” says Sandra Julien, secretary of the History department.
Walker came to Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus from the Shreveport campus on an academic scholarship in the fall of 2000.She graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in history and a 3.5 GPA.
“I want to show women who think about coming back to school that they can come back and make it with a lot of hard work and determination,” says Walker.
Walker has been working since she was 16 years old, and had left a full-time management position to return to school after her grandmother’s death. Her grandmother helped her to realize there is more she must strive to achieve in her life.
She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Social Science with a concentration in History. She will obtain her degree in one year, and continue her education at Southern University’s Law School to become a family court lawyer. Her areas of specialty will be child care and child support.
Often times she will hear other students talk about their problems. “Some will say things like, ‘I haven’t gotten my refund check, and it has me oh so stressed because I can’t go shopping’,” says Walker. Then she exclaims, “Pleeease! Go shopping for myself? No, but can I get my refund check so that I can keep a roof over my kids’ heads and food in our mouths?”
Jo Ann Walker is extremely busy. She is on the Graduate School’s Advisory Board, taking a 15 hour course load, working 20 hours as a graduate assistant, plus, do not forget, managing the hustle and bustle of five beautiful kids.
This leads to the obvious question: Jo, girl, how do you do it? Her answer: “God is the reason for my success. When He says you can do it…it is already done.”
When in Shreveport she founded an organization called H.U.M.A.N.- Help Us Maintain A Nation. It is geared towards pregnancy prevention in teenage girls, grades six through nine.
“There are definitely hard times as a single parent. When I was pregnant with my youngest child, one of my kids came home with the chickenpox. Of course, I ended up with a house full of chickenpox infested children- not to mention the fact that I was pregnant and not supposed to be around chickenpox. Instances such as those are tough, but my kids keep me going,” says Walker.
Returning to school as a single parent is hard enough without doubling up on the usual course load. Walker is often asked why she feels she has to rush. “My kids are not going to stop growing. My eldest daughter will be starting college once I begin my own practice. I will be able to be there for her financially, as well as meet other needs that would be harder to do if I was still in school.”