Rachel Slaughter (’89) has always taken on more responsibilities than the average person. (Chalk it up to her parents continually encouraging her to live life to the fullest.)
At Cabrini, the Yeadon, PA, native double-majored in English/Communication and Secondary Education. She also served as editor of the Loquitur (one of her favorite memories of Cabrini), a member of the Black Student Union, and a tutor for disadvantaged students as part of a group sponsored by Cabrini’s neighbor, Eastern University.
Now, in addition to her full-time career in education, Slaughter runs a tutoring service and summer camp, and is embarking on her dissertation for a Doctor of Education.
“I have a busy life,” Slaughter said. “But I am lucky to have a very supportive husband of 24 years, Warren, and our two lovely children, ages 18 and 16. My family is my support system.”
While an undergraduate student, she had the Cabrini family as her support system. One of the most influential people for Slaughter at Cabrini was then-Activities Director Rita Calicat.
“She nurtured us and always had snacks in her office,” Slaughter said. “Those ‘chat and chews’ helped me through tough times. I am convinced that I would have never been successful at Cabrini without Rita.”
As a Communication major spending many hours in the newsroom, Slaughter also gained inspiration from Jerome “Jerry” Zurek, PhD, who taught her the skills she needed as she went on to write for Philly newspapers at night while she taught during the day. She also published a young adult novella, Roxie’s Mirage, after working with many at-risk students at Reading High School in Reading, PA.
Her main passion, however, is teaching. She began her career in education at a Catholic school in West Philadelphia, teaching English there for four years.
“I felt that it was my vocation to teach inner-city children,” she said, a revelation she had while student-teaching as part of her Secondary Education major at Cabrini. “Although I am the product of suburban Catholic schools, I gravitated to the students I met in my experiences as an inner-city student-teacher.”
In 2008, after years of tutoring students in her home (or in their homes), Slaughter wanted to continue offering quality educational services to at-risk students, but in a more formal setting. She worked with a local pastor to secure space in the Garden Church in Lansdowne for her new endeavor, the Salt and Light Learning Institute (SALLI).
In addition to providing tutoring services, SALLI offered an after-school program and summer camp, helping children in grades kindergarten through 6 with homework skills and enrichment activities such as science experiments, art, and educational games.
“Our camp was a popular attraction for parents who wanted their children to have academics through fun activities,” Slaughter said. “We became known for our unusual camp activities and classes like architecture, STEM, botany, literacy, ornithology, and finance.
“When we first opened, there were no camps in the Lansdowne area that offered the type of academic fun that we planned at Camp Salt and Light,” Slaughter said. “Now, there are other camps in Lansdowne, but I still do not know of any who take awesome cultural trips, study amazing and unique subjects, and encourage literacy development.”
Joyce Thornsberry, Lead Teacher at Camp Salt and Light, said, “The camp makes little income because Rachel refuses to offer an overpriced camp to low-income families. In fact, she often takes kids whose parents are unable to pay at all.”
In 2015, Slaughter and the SALLI team expanded their services to include literacy programs for kindergarten-age children through adults, renaming the organization Literacy University. Located on Market Street in Philadelphia, Literacy University promotes literacy development through research-designed activities including study skills, reading comprehension, and college preparation, and provides consulting services to school districts and conferences. Slaughter and her team also still offer the Salt and Light summer camp, under the umbrella of Literacy University.
A new initiative—and a result of Slaughter’s dissertation pre-research—is the Daddy, REAd to Me (DREAM) workshops, in which fathers serve as reading role models to their sons.
“Sons imitate their fathers far more often than fathers wish to admit,” Slaughter said. “The impact that a father has on his son is powerful. This idea is especially important as it pertains to literacy in the African-American community. Research shows that African-American boys perform poorly in standardized reading tests.”
Slaughter and her team are still developing the curriculum for the DREAM workshops, which she plans to launch this fall.
“As a veteran teacher in urban public schools, I was always emotionally moved by elementary and high school boys who cannot read,” Slaughter said. “Many of the discipline problems that teachers see in urban classrooms are a direct result of an arrested development in literacy. I am emotionally touched by any boy who pulls me aside, after I have earned his trust, to tell me that I am the only person who ever discovered he couldn’t read.”
In recognition of this spirit to help the community, in 2000 Cabrini awarded Slaughter with the Distinguished Achievement Alumni Award. Slaughter, who continues her vocation in education both as her career and as her passion, began a new position this fall—Learning Specialist for High School at Friends Central High School in Wynnewood, PA. True to her full-plate-or-bust motto in life, she will continue her efforts with Literacy University, always searching for new ways to improve the lives of at-risk students.