An interview with ODA alumna Janine Walker
“Knowing what’s not you is just as important as knowing what is you.”
Janine Walker has carried that willingness to explore, reconsider, and choose a new direction across countries, careers and classrooms.
A Cleveland Heights High School graduate and Open Doors Academy alumna, Janine has travelled in Thailand, earned degrees from The Ohio State University and SOAS University of London, worked for a UK-based climate-action nonprofit, and developed a travel platform documenting her experiences living abroad.
This fall, she will begin a four-year American Sign Language–English interpretation program at George Brown Polytechnic in Toronto.
Janine first encountered Open Doors Academy through her older brother, Miles.
“He would come home and be like, ‘We’re going to do this next weekend, and this person is coming in to speak to us,’” she recalled. “As an elementary school student, I was so excited to get started with Open Doors because of how excited my brother was.”
Entering ODA’s program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as a sixth-grade scholar in 2006, Janine found a community where she could complete her homework, try activities ranging from knitting to chess and develop relationships that have lasted into adulthood.
She also participated in a leadership training camp where scholars practiced responding to bullying, exclusion, and other real-world situations.
“You can say, ‘I’m a leader.’ You can say, ‘I have these values, I have these morals,’” Janine said. “But it’s not until you’re tested that you know who you are.”
The experience required scholars to speak up, reflect on their decisions and consider each person’s perspective.
“It wasn’t just in theory,” she said. “We actually were practicing some of these skills that we learned.”
Later, Janine traveled with ODA to Harlan, Kentucky, where scholars repaired homes and learned about life in an Appalachian coal-mining community.
“We were leaving the state of Ohio, and there was trust and responsibility given to us,” she said. “We were going to help other people who were in need.”
That trust also mattered to Janine’s mother, who raised Janine and Miles as a single parent.
“She could rest knowing that her children were in good hands,” Janine said. “We were fed, we were taken care of, we had opportunities to do our homework, and we also were being enriched.”
Reflecting on ODA’s broader impact, Janine pointed to the kind of young people the program helps develop.
“Open Doors has really facilitated a space for young people who critically think, young people who advocate for themselves and for others, young people who care about others, young people who have a sense of community,” she said.
“If that’s what you want to see out in the world, then I would 100 percent give back to an organization like Open Doors.”
Follow Janine’s travels on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kneenee_hops/ and read more at https://passportamore.com/
