By Christian Coffman

NATCHEZ — Ida Anderson does not just talk about making the Natchez-Adams School District better, she actually makes it better.

Anderson was recently honored as the Natchez-Adams School District’s parent of the year.

The local event planner and proud mother of Natchez High School senior Demetrice Anderson said she was shocked but appreciative and humbled to receive the award.

Ernest Tony Fields, principal of Natchez High School, said that Anderson works to make sure every school in the district is improved.

“She’s the president of (the District’s) P16 Council, which means she helps review current policies to see which ones need to be kept, updated, or deleted,” Fields said.  “She does that on top of being a member of the Parent Teacher Student Association. That’s an awesome task to take on,” Fields said.

Fields said Anderson is a visible presence at NHS, and that she is always at parent meetings.

“Today we have a lot of people who are experts on what we have to do to make education better, but Ms. Anderson is a person who is actually making our schools better,” Fields said.

Anderson said the fulfillment she feels when helping her community makes up for any exhaustion that may come with it, since she has always enjoyed being engaged in community advocacy.

“Muhammad Ali said that the service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. I live by those words,” Anderson said.

As a parent, Anderson said it has been her philosophy to promote her child — and any child — to excel even greater than she has.

The district’s public relations coordinator Steven Richardson said the applications for the Parent of the Year award are reviewed by a panel of employees from Braden Admistrative Office.

Anderson will now be eligible to to be considered for the Mississippi Parent of the Year, Richardson said.

Anderson says that she is leaving her potential as a finalist in God’s hands.

“The path I engage in is one that I’m confident He has laid out for me,” Anderson said.