Janie Hill ’85 gives back to alma mater
By Mary E. McCrank
Janie Hill became qualified to teach in England.
But it was here at The College at Brockport where she learned how to teach.
“Certainly, I qualified from England, but I learned how to relate to kids and how to be creative by learning in the American education system,” said Hill, who received her master’s in education from Brockport in 1985 by spending summer and other school breaks traveling here for instruction.
Hill, who has worked in a variety of interesting careers—from teaching to serving as airline services director for an upstart airline—received her teaching certificate from Cambridge University and a U.K. honors bachelor’s from the prestigious Leeds University. But she credits her Brockport education for helping her develop skills transferable from one career to the next.
“I was well qualified, and I was there to impart knowledge and instill learning,” she said of her early teaching career. “I had already qualified.”
But Hill felt like there was a lock on her creativity.
Hill was teaching at the American International School of Dusseldorf in Germany and serving as supervising teacher to Brockport’s student teachers when she met Jeanette D’Agostino Banker ’53, associate professor emeriti and program director of the Department of Education and Human Development’s program for American/International Schools Overseas.
The two immediately hit it off and began a longtime friendship that would change both their lives.
“Jeanette saw a trait within me, and she encouraged me to come and do the master’s degree,” said Hill.
Hill was selected by her headmaster, Dr. James Cantwell, to come to Brockport for additional studies so she could earn her master’s degree. And so it was through this program—part of the department’s International Teaching Center program—that Hill would travel from England to Brockport to work toward her master’s degree during school breaks. At Brockport, she would observe classrooms, have one-on-one meetings with staff members and tutor students. And she authored two papers which are housed in Drake Library.
“It made learning fun. … It changed me so I could share information with kids and be part of their learning. I was part of their learning rather than standing aside and imparting,” said Hill. “It just changed my life.”
Once that creativity was released, Hill would teach in a different way. Each week, she would have a hobby subject that would follow the morning instructions in literature and math.
She convinced the British Army to land a helicopter for her students to see, and then they spent a week exploring how helicopters and airplanes operate. She taught about other countries, such as Australia, and got fuzzy material so her students could learn what koala bears felt like and eucalyptus oil so they could smell the food koalas eat.
“I learned to teach,” said Hill. “I learned to be a good communicator.”
And so, in gratitude, Hill has made a planned gift to The College at Brockport, donating each year to the Janie Hill International Scholarship while also making a bequest.
Hill’s scholarship supports the College’s Study Abroad Program and helps encourage Brockport students to travel abroad to round out their education.
Hill said her reasons for giving back to Brockport are three fold: She learned so much from her studies here; she treasures her relationships with the people she met her, specifically D’Agostino Banker; and she wants to help provide students the opportunity to travel to a foreign country and learn as a result of their travels.
Hill said it was her own world travels that made her the person she is today. And it was through her travels that she developed an appreciation for the value of an international education, she said.
“It gives students a possibility to go to a foreign country and learn, and as a result of that grow,” she said. “Through their lives, they will see a difference because of it.”
“I am a person changed because of the education I did get here. It wasn’t through qualification because the qualification I already had. I was taught how to teach. I was given the freedom to learn how to communicate and teach kids.”
“There were so many outstanding people here who changed my life. Jeanette D’Agostino Banker is the preeminent one.”
In fact, Hill said, D’Agostino Banker is one of three people who have significantly changed her life. When Hill was a student here, she struggled with a math course and almost gave up. It was D’Agostino Banker who convinced her to keep going to the class to simply see it through, to listen but not take notes.
“Because the pressure was off, I started to do it,” Hill remarked.
Hill still remembers D’Agostino Banker’s response when Hill told her the good news that she was absorbing the math lessons: “That’s good because I’ve arranged for you to have some tuition.”
She also recalls the patience Emeritus Bill Rock had when teaching her statistics.
“One of the things he taught me was you don’t say, ‘I can’t do it.’ What you say is, ‘I can do it, but it will take me longer,’ ” said Hill.
Hill and her husband, Aden Murcutt, travel frequently from their home in Worcestershire, England, to Brockport to visit D’Agostino Banker and other friends Hill made while here. Most recently, they attended the President’s Donor Recognition Dinner in April. And when they married in 2010, it was only natural that they opted to have their ceremony right here at Brockport, at the Newman Center. They had made it to all of the family weddings in D’Agostino Banker’s family, and so they wanted her to be by their side when it was their turn.
Hill said it was all of these simple gestures by her wonderful teachers here that had a profound impact on her life.
“It’s indescribable because at the time I was so self-focused on wanting to do the academics, it wasn’t until later I realized the generosity of spirit, the gracious attitude of people,” she said.
Brockport Foundation
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