Ronda Rimmer knew when she was in college that she wanted to stay in the Delta, but she originally thought she would be serving her community as a doctor, not working in school administration.
“My old superintendent, he ended up pulling me out of the classroom because I did a lot of marketing for my class,” she recalled.
He asked her to take a job as his secretary and social media coordinator for the district. She taught computer classes for 14 years in North Bolivar Consolidated School District before the superintendent asked her to perform the new role.
Rimmer, now 47, carried that talent over to the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District, where she serves as secretary for Superintendent James Johnson-Waldington and creates social media content.
“You would think it’s just a secretary position, but it’s not,” she said.
She said that as a child, she might not have thought what she’s doing now was worth pursuing, especially compared to being a doctor, which was her dream.
She began college at Dillard University, a private historically Black university in New Orleans, as a chemistry pre-med major but eventually graduated from Delta State University with a degree in computer information systems in 1999 following the death of her father.
“Now I run into interesting people and get to make cool graphics,” Rimmer said. “Then I’m learning as I go, and that’s the part I really like. It’s fun.”
Rimmer said her job has also taught her to not limit her own capacity. “I have to come in every day and be willing to go over and beyond to do more,” she said.
Rimmer runs the social media accounts for the district — “I get paid to do it, and that’s a plus” — and uses her passion to encourage students.
“If you can see yourself as being bigger than what you really are, you may reach higher. ... I always want to make (students) look like they’re already in Hollywood or already in a big city because, if they can see themselves that way, they’ll always want to go for that.”
Inspiring the next generation is the reason Rimmer chose to stay in the Delta after growing up in Cleveland.
“As I grew older, I wanted to make a difference. I figured, if everybody was leaving, who’s going to be behind to help the younger people?” she said.
Her husband of 15 years runs a nonprofit in Cleveland, and she said her work goes hand in hand with his.
“Our lives are not just for our children. We spend a lot of time with other people’s kids, trying to expose them to things they wouldn’t normally see,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, but it’s a matter of how you perceive where you are that makes a difference.”
Rimmer also markets her own designs, which she sells online.
Throughout the interview she sipped on a drink from a Stan Lee comic thermos she had created for her son, who is 10.
In her spare time, she spends her time with him and her daughter, who is 13.
“I’m kind of a homebody, probably watching a good movie or trying to learn about what my son is reading about,” she said.
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
