b'T HIISSIISSHHOOMMEETHSusan Blodgett, ABR Broker / Sales Associate Barnett helped set up The Harvesters School or Ecole Le Moisonneurs in one of Port Au973-214-4636 Princes poorest neighborhoods, La Saline. It started with 40 students and grew to overSusan.Blodgett@cbmoves.com 500. Pictured here is a class of fourth graders.Ginny Spiegel frequentlytravelingtotheislandtoof laughter and amazement: LorraineSales Associate check on what more needs to be done.from Rutgers Street. 973-219-8865 She was most recently there in Febru- It was Thomas Cowan, the profes- Virginia.Spiegel@cbmoves.com 145 Maplewood AvenueMaplewood, NJ ary of 2020, just before the world wassor who lent her and her husband the973-378-8300 @WeKnowNJRealEstate locked down because of Covid. money for the down payment, whom She wears her dark hair in a pixieshe credits for her charitable work. ISERVICE KNOWLEDGE EXPERTISE cut, and she could easily pass for a de- spent so much time thanking him that cade younger. She is prone to laughterhe soon grew weary of me, she writes andscripture,givingtheimpressionin the essay that won her a first prize that the Bible is as dear and familiarin this years county writing contest. I to her as air. told him that what he did for us was soDig Deeper.The story of her life embraces all thetremendous that we did not know how contradictions of an American societywe could ever repay him. To that he fullofpossibilityandalsorivenbyresponded, If you really want to repayGrow Stronger.class and race: she is a proud graduateme, find someone who is in need and of Rutgers; and was able to take advan- help them. Plant Your Roots.tage both of its presence in her city andThat was not an easy proposition. its open-door policy. And yet a whiteBarnett was making a fraction of what English professor, initially enthusiasticher classmates in private practice were. about her writing talent, gave her a DWewerealwaysstruggling,always after learning she, like him, wanted tounder the gun financially, she recalls. get a doctorate; and her fellow gradu- It took us a long time. We came from ates at the law school, one a son of aNewark. Weborrowedmoneytogo congressman,wereinvitedtowhitetoschool.Wehadchildren,wehad shoe law firms after graduation, whilemedical expenses, rent to pay. We had the only job available to her was as anto have two cars We always had this attorney for the poor. It was anotherburden. We didnt have extra money, white professor, however, who lent her the down payment for herhouseinSouthOrange. And it was her male boss who suggested she apply for the top legal job at the insurance com-pany for which she worked, a promotionthatputherinVISIT GOLDAOCHACADEMY.ORGchargeofallthecompanys NewJerseylitigation.Me,OR CALL THE OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS 973-602-3601she says often with a mixtureStudents from the Belle Anse school. feature story /15'