Dr. Joseph A. Shivers of Salem has been chosen as the 2024 Salem High School Alumni Association Honored Alumnus.
Dr. Shivers graduated from Salem High School in 1966. In 1970 he received a bachelor’s degree from Baldwin-Wallace College. He continued his education and received his teaching certificate through Youngstown State University in 1973 and his master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1982. From Harvard University, Shivers attained his Master of Education degree in June of 1985 and his Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in 1989.
He served as Salem City Schools superintendent from 2014 through 2019, and presently operates Dr. Joe’s Learning Center, L.L.C., where he offers K-12 tutoring, ACT and SAT preparation, and college admissions counseling. He has held numerous leadership positions and maintains an impressive list of professional memberships. Shivers has also written many education-themed articles for publication. He has lived his life with a passionate dedication to improving the learning experience for thousands of students. Shivers is one of the key individuals who worked to help endow the SHS Class of 1966 Scholarship, which is awarded each year during the SHSAA Scholarship Ceremony.
A former Peace Corps volunteer and instructor, Dr. Shivers has taught at St. Paul School in Salem; Pusan National University in Pusan, Korea; Sts. Peter and Paul High School in Newark, Ohio; Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts; and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has held the position of school principal at Kirtland High School; East Palestine Middle School; South Side Middle School and Columbiana High School; and Salem Middle and Salem Senior High School. Other leadership positions in Salem include Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Personnel, and most recently as a Salem City Schools Board of Education Member from 2020 through 2024. Shivers is married to fellow SHS graduate, Madeline Patton Shivers, SHS Class of 1977. They have two sons who also graduated from Salem – Joseph P. Shivers, M.D., SHS Class of 2006, and Brian D. Shivers, SHS Class of 2009.
His inspiring speech follows:
Good evening. Thank you for that kind introduction, Mrs. Weaver, and thanks to the Salem High School Alumni Association for this honor. I am humbled beyond measure as I consider the accomplishments of those previously recognized, many of whom I have had personal relationships with. Mickey Cope Weaver’s dad, F.E. Cope, the inaugural honoree in 1958, was athletic director when I played basketball here. Dr. Paul Corso, in a most foundational relationship, was the physician who delivered me and all ten of my younger sisters and brothers – reason enough, I think, for him to have been honored. Dr. Jack Alexander, in whose algebra class I earned an “A,” and who gave me the first solid inkling that I could go to college. Helen Marie Potter Hayes, with whom I worked closely over five years to raise funds for the SHSAA Class of 1966 Scholarship. Dan E. Smith, Bill Phillis, Lou Slaby, Pete Apicella, Todd Olson, and others – an impressive roster to be sure.
To my late parents John and Margaret with their boundless love and faith and patience, and to my siblings who regularly made the amazing seem normal, thanks for encouraging me when I needed it and calling me out when I deserved it. Thanks to my remarkable wife, Madeline, and sons, Joseph and Brian – all proud SHS grads – and Joseph’s wife Sarah and their sons Owen and Henry for their unstinting support. A grand thank you to my classmates, my great friends, whose generosity made this award possible and on whose behalf I accept it. A particular thanks to Gary Kekel who nominated me. And a sincere thank you to everyone, everywhere who bet on me over the years as a student, an educator, or as just someone to hang with. I learned from all of you.
To the members of the Class of 1974, welcome.
To all of you scholars comprising the two-thousand, twenty-four class of SHSAA awardees, congratulations.
About the SHSAA: seniors, in just a few weeks you will become part of perhaps the most feel right-do right organization with which you will ever be affiliated. You will join Quaker alums around the world in a lifelong fellowship that requires no application; includes no dues; holds one annual meeting that you do not even have to attend; brings philanthropy down to a personal, particularly meaningful level; publishes a newsletter that reconnects you twice a year to your alma mater and to those who attended her; and beams out from a gem of a gathering place that is staffed by folks who welcome visitors with equal parts conviviality and caring. Lucky you.
Let me direct a few remarks to the members of the SHS class of 2024. Disclaimer: there will be no wisdom of the ages offered here tonight. On the other hand, I am well-aged, and I have picked up a couple of tips in my journey so far that may be helpful to soon-to-be high school graduates. We’ll just have to make do with these. An advantage to my advice is that you are already familiar with it. I am referring to two quotations that are displayed on the walls of the SHS library-slash-media center: “Leaders are readers,” and “Work hard; be nice.” Neither is original with me, but I can attest to their worth.
“Leaders are readers.” Some of my favorite ways to lead have been as parent, teacher, coach, principal, and superintendent. I hear that there are other fine ways, too. Indeed, as you go forward in life, you will lead. There will be occasions when you lead at work, in your family, in social situations. And there will be countless times that call for self-leadership when you’ll want the confidence and the means to guide yourself effectively. So read. Beyond its value in providing knowledge and entertainment, reading empowers. And while reading Jane Austen, Anton Chekov, Robert Coles, or Kurt Vonnegut may offer no comprehensive, explicit recipe for leadership, it will help fortify a perspective on life, on the human condition, that will inform how you think and how you lead, even when you are not conscious of its influence.
By the way, there is recent research out of Columbia University that suggests that reading printed material is more conducive to retaining what you’ve read than reading digital material. The research was done among 10-12 year olds, but I am guessing that the findings would be similar among 17-year olds, 18-year olds, and 76-year olds. So, respond to your text messages, but visit your library.
“Work hard; be nice.” Nothing to belabor here. As to “work hard,” I can’t say give 110% because I think that strength coaches have the copyright on that phrase. Suffice it to say that you know what hard work is – it engenders that feeling you get when you have given a day your best efforts. “Be nice,” with all that that entails: keep in touch with relatives and friends; be charitable with your time, your resources, and your words; smile . . . often. Along the way, be sure to be nice to yourself: after your hard work, you’ll have earned it.
And, well, that’s about all I got for now.
Once again, to all of this evening’s scholarship winners, congratulations. You represent the best and brightest that Salem High School has to offer the world. Go out and make it a better place.