The child of one Church of the Brethren pastor and one public school teacher, James Hall first moved to Augusta County when he was in eighth grade. His family’s life of service had taken them through Idaho, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, all before his teenage years. Augusta County was their last stop. “I really love the people of Augusta,” he says, looking back. “They helped raise me. It’s the first place I can say I was home.”
But sometimes time moves in circles, and finding home and staying home aren’t always the same. College pulled James to Radford and Bridgewater, and ultimately to Shenandoah University for a Masters in Educational Leadership. Work took him to Fairfax County outside of DC, and to Albemarle County near Charlottesville. No longer a child of fate, coming home became a choice, one once again informed by service and family.
Today finds James and his wife Evonne raising their four children in Mount Sidney, a recent move they chose in order to give their children the culture, climate, and dual enrollment options of the same public schools that James had grown up in. In addition to James’ parents, they are joined by Evonne’s, from Michigan to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren. Time spent driving children to wrestling matches, basketball practices, and cross country competitions is joined by James’ volunteer work through their church and as the newest President of the Staunton YMCA Board of Directors. In James’ words, when it comes to Augusta County, “we’re all in.”
Here in his childhood home, one can also find his greatest tribute to childhood’s lessons, where James serves as the Director of the Career and Workforce Development Division at the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center, the only center of its kind in the state.
Finding Purpose
To understand the trajectory of the three generations of Halls now living in Augusta, it helps to remember that in this family, the lines between work, service and love have long since braided and fused. The calling that is now a career was in childhood simply the everyday care for his sister, who had several special education needs. In learning to care for her, James found that he had a gift, one he knew he needed to pass on.
Trained to be a special education teacher, he continued the family tradition of service when he fell in love with and married another special ed. teacher. Now at the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center, he helps individuals with disabilities — from autism to learning disabilities, mobility challenges to post traumatic stress disorders — reimagine their personal and professional lives through education and employment.
Bilingual and bicultural, the Center draws students from across the state, providing an on-campus residential experience. Committed to meeting folks wherever they are in their journeys, the Center accepts applications from anyone with a disability and seeks to customize educational and residential experiences to their needs. All in one package, this living and learning environment offers occupational therapy, physical therapy, career and technical education (CTE) courses, and up to a year of on-campus housing. The first Center in the nation to use this model of Educational Rehabilitation, the workforce division has transformed WWRC from a WWII hospital to, under James’ watchful eye, a state of the art educational facility. From sweeping windows and classroom integrated technology, to calming wall materials that don’t echo, colorful floors that won’t slip, and stone tiles that won’t crack against wheelchairs – it’s a facility where even the architecture respects and uplifts the disabled.
James talks about his work as someone committed to combining big picture thinking with time in the classroom. “Good leaders remember how to be teachers,” he says. “Really good teachers remember how to be students.” He speaks with the passion of a man for whom the work has always been personal. He talks about partnerships with Blue Ridge Community College and agreements with major manufacturing and IT companies for customized training and guaranteed employment pathways. But he also tells the stories of a former brick mason who, after becoming paralyzed, learned small business skills and became an administrative assistant; of a farmer who after breaking his back gained access to the rehabilitative services he needed to return to his farm; of high school students with learning disabilities who James says with a twinkle “have no idea yet, of all the things they can do.”
Giving Back
At the Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center, instruction is designed to remove barriers, and to help students succeed with the fewest restrictions possible — aiming to give them equal access to workforce and educational opportunities. “We want to help folks out of poverty, yes, but also to achieve a life they want to live, not one being dictated to them.”
Asked what gives him the most satisfaction in his work here in Augusta, James says, “It’s not only about helping our students become successful, it’s also their families.” As a brother, son, father, husband, teacher, and director, he’s seen all sides of the challenges and rewards of both love and disability. “As a family, there’s always the question of what will happen to my loved ones when I’m gone. Here, we get to be a part of that answer.”
