Sisters Jackie and Stephanie Palma grew up on Long Island with parents who instilled in them the importance of education and giving back. After attending Catholic and public schools, both sisters graduated from Vassar College. Jackie moved to New York after college and joined CSF’s Young Leaders Board, serving as its co-chair for many years. Now, she and her fiancé, Elliot Tisdale, are part of CSF’s President’s Council. Following in Jackie’s footsteps, Stephanie is now a Young Leaders Board member. Together, the sisters have run eight half-marathons for CSF, giving and raising an impressive $20,000. Recently, they sat down with us to discuss why CSF’s mission inspires them.
On giving back and finding Children’s Scholarship Fund:
Jackie: Both Steph and I, from high school on, did a good amount of community-based volunteer work. It was just something we enjoyed doing. It was part of our Catholic upbringing and values. After Vassar, I was trying to figure out how I could keep that aspect of my life active. [A friend] mentioned CSF and it sounded very similar to what I was looking to do post-college, so that was a natural segue into my involvement.
Stephanie: Giving back has certainly been part of our education from elementary school through college. The ethos at Vassar was a lot about doing what you can to make the education of those around you even better, whether that was the people sitting next to you in class or students in the local Poughkeepsie schools. I really wanted to get involved in education primarily because it meant so much to me personally and as I pursue a graduate degree, I felt almost obligated because of how fortunate I feel to be able to be on this track. I want to help other people pursue their educational goals, so hearing about CSF through Jackie definitely made me want to become a part of it.
Their parents’ approach to Jackie and Stephanie’s education:
Jackie: We both went to the Catholic school in our town. Making sure that those values were being instilled from an early age was important to our parents.
Stephanie: It’s worth adding that our parents are both first-generation college students. It’s just kind of bred into Jackie and me that it’s a gift to be educated, so we’ve always taken it really seriously. Jackie has toyed with the idea of going to grad school, and I’m going to be pursuing a graduate degree, so it feels like our family is crawling up our country’s education ladder.
What education freedom means to them:
Jackie: Making the decision about what the right academic environment is for their child and who’s teaching them is something that every parent should have the right to do. There are just a lot of families that need two parent incomes. Some of that is by choice and some of that is not by choice. Regardless of various income situations, I think that it is really important that parents are empowered to make the choice of who’s educating their children if they are not. An educator or education institution is effectively stepping into the shoes of a parent when that child is in their care. Parents typically know their child and their needs best, so it makes the most sense to have the parent be able to choose who will fill their role in their absence.
Stephanie: We are the products of our parents’ will in terms of our education. It’s hard not to be 100% for it and believe wholeheartedly in it. I think it goes without saying that parents have the best interest of their children in mind. They just can’t always meet those interests financially or they aren’t totally aware of what actually the possibilities are for them, so I think offering options and for parents to have the choice to send their child to the school that they think will help them get the best education possible is exactly how Jackie and I got here – not through the Children’s Scholarship Fund, specifically, but through the school choice of our parents. Based on our personal experience, it is hard not to be gung-ho for the school choice program.
Advice for CSF Scholars and alumni:
Stephanie: I hope you’re comfortable with me saying this, Jackie, but there are some people who can just go to sleep without studying and do well, but we are not those people! I would tell them that you can learn anything, you just have to try to learn it. And how much you try is up to you alone.
Jackie: I think Steph said the best earlier when she said good education is a gift. When you’re in kindergarten, it’s pretty fun. When you’re older, it can be hard to view it as a gift but keeping that in mind will take people pretty far!
