2 minute read
community connection
Cori Walls
Founder, Steve’s Club
THEN: Growing up in Ossining, New York, Cori Walls was known as the girl without a father. Walls was just 8 months old when her dad, Steve, died from a brain tumor. He was 30. “I don’t know anything about my dad other than what people have told me,” Walls says. Looked after in her early years by her mother and grandparents, Walls grew up knowing she was different than other kids but not really understanding the true impact of the loss. “When I was 17 we went to his grave, and that’s when I understood the reality of not knowing him,” she recalls. “I always knew my life would have been different if my dad hadn’t passed away.” After graduating from college, Walls began a career as a television reporter in Kentucky and then Tennessee but left the field before moving to Delray Beach about a decade ago.
NOW: Walls began her second career as an educator in 2012, teaching English as a Second Language at Atlantic High School. When the principal learned about her television background, Walls was given the opportunity to teach two new classes, digital video technology and an International Baccalaureate in Film. In 2019, after asking the students to fill out a form with contact information, she found out that 10 of her kids had parents who had died. She would later discover there were at least 34 students in the school in the same situation. That led to Steve’s Club, an after-school group that meets twice a month for kids who have lost a parent. “I bring in experts to help with grief therapy and coping skills and also college readiness,” she says. “The beauty of this group is that we have kids of all backgrounds, and they find common ground in their grief.” Last year, as COVID-19 led to more students losing parents, Walls was given the green light to expand the program to eight other schools. She also created a scholarship program for “her kids,” and last year gave three $2,000 scholarships to firstgeneration college students.
