A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Alice Dawson

A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Alice Dawson
By: Contributor Last Updated: May 23, 2018

Alice Dawson, Title 1 Administrative Assistant for the Portage Township School Corporation, has always loved doing whatever she could to lend a helping hand. Whether it’s helping teachers and students get what they need to succeed, or putting on stage productions of beloved plays to lift peoples’ spirits, Dawson has always been an active and caring member of her community.

Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Dawson attended Horace Mann High School. She lived there for most of her life, until after high school, when she enrolled in Michigan State University. From there, Dawson lived in Gary for a number of years, until about 15 years ago when she made the move out to Portage.

“We were looking for a better place to live,” Dawson explained. “I love the fact that everyone is friendly here in Portage.”

Portage’s friendly nature has always been well established, but when she and her family made the move out there years ago, she brought another spark of kindness that hasn’t gone away. While still living in Gary, Dawson worked at the Sojourner Truth House, a homeless shelter for women and children. She worked there for eight years, and while it was a difficult and intense job, it was fulfilling and rewarding to be able to help women and children in need.

“You met women who had no place to go, you met children who had been place to place, and it was heartbreaking,” Dawson explained. “It was very intense, because the goal and objective was to find a safe place for these women to live with their children. It was definitely a job I loved because I got the chance to help people.”

Dawson originally was on a slightly different path. When she finished her college education at Michigan State University, she graduated with a degree in radiology. But while she thought it would be something that she would enjoy, life had a different plan.

“I thought radiology would be something I’d enjoy, but I realized it wasn’t for me,” she explained. “I think after a while, it became kind of depressing. You come across people that have cancer or another disease, but then after I ended up developing cancer myself, I didn’t want to be around radiology anymore.”

In 2019, Dawson will be a 26-year cancer survivor. And during that time, she has focused on helping people and making their lives easier and happier. She has continued that drive to help others in her current job as the Title 1 Administrative Assistant for the Portage Township Schools Corporation. For the past four years, she has helped keep everything running smoothly, from ordering supplies teachers need, to doing the payroll for other Title 1 assistants.

“My day to day routine is to make sure that all of our Title 1 teachers have the things that they need, the tools that they need,” she said.

The Title 1 program is a federally funded program that provides educational services and funds to low-income areas. Its purpose is to help those students who may be at risk of failing to meet standards. With people like Dawson by their side, students receive the help and support they need to not only meet standards, but also become successful and happy students.

“I just make sure everybody is happy, everyone is comfortable, and everyone has what they need,” she explained further. “Because if people are happy, they work happy, and at the end of the day, our kids are happy.”

While her employment opportunities have provided a lot of fulfillment, Dawson’s real passion can be found on a stage underneath a spotlight.

“I love theater and I call it my night job,” she said. “I also found that I help people in that area, because of course when you’re doing theater, it’s also a job that is a healing job, and it is a funny job.”

Dawson has been involved in theater since she was seven years old. From one of her very first performances as one of the Green People in the Wizard of Oz, to her most recent performance in The Living Last Supper, theater has always been an important part of her life.

Now, Dawson works to put on plays in partnership with her church, New Beginnings Christian Ministry, where her husband, Kenneth, is a pastor. She has acted and directed plays, with her production of What the H-E-L-L Do You Want? opening in 2019. But with her church and everyone who helps put on these amazing shows, Dawson is able to work in a field she loves, and shares that love during every performance.

“When you are on the stage, you’re soothing to the audience. They might be able to relate to a certain skit or a certain play, and it’s like a little form of therapy.”

Along with theater, she enjoys modern and jazz dancing, reading, and writing poetry in her spare time. She even hopes to one day finish her memoir about surviving both cancer and a stroke. But theater is such a big part of her life, something that has allowed her to find a voice, passion, and understanding between her and her audience. Alice Dawson loves what it can do, just like her job at the Sojourner Truth House and for the Portage Township School Corporation, and loves the impact it has on others.