Shirley Montgomery

"My story began long before I attended Harris School but it ends successfully because of Harris," Shirley Montgomery recalls. She came to the Harris School in Cherry Hill, NJ, during a three-month tax layoff period from the IRS where she worked seasonally as a clerk and a tax examiner. Before her time at the IRS, Shirley had worked 19 years for the City of Detroit as a fingerprint classifier with the Police Department. Shirley's journey from Detroit to New Jersey had been a difficult one after leaving an abusive home and placing the care of her children with her mother for three months while she bravely faced an unknown future hoping for a new beginning. 

Shirley's path brought her to the Harris School for job training in Office Technology with a specialty in Legal Studies. She remembers, "I was frightened and insecure. I was now in my mid-forties and not sure I could be 're-trained.' I had never used a computer and was clumsy with the mouse. I struggled with English and Math courses too." Shirley persevered and credits her teachers with providing her the support she needed to stay the course. "I found that as long as I completed all my assignments each day and homework every night, my comprehension and ability to learn gradually grew."

Shirley graduated from Harris second in her class and after working for a few years in Philadelphia, has since gone on to hold a position as a Legal Secretary with a prestigious law firm in New York City. She and her children share a new home in Bordentown, NJ, which they helped build with the organization, Habitat for Humanity. "My children and I have been truly blessed since coming to New Jersey and it all started for us at Harris."