Meet NHA Alum Steven Gilbert

My name is Steven Gilbert. I’m chief of staff in the Michigan Senate. I attended Walker Charter Academy from 1998 to 2006.

My experience at Walker was incredible. When I switched over to high school, for those first couple of years really, I felt more than prepared for the academic rigor of what I was going through because I had been introduced to all those concepts through the curriculum at Walker Charter. There was a real focus on making sure that the students were not only learning but progressing. They really found a way to get everyone focused and moving through the curriculum together.

And a lot of the relationships I built at Walker, those are some of my closest friends, people that stood up with me at my wedding. And I think that for any student at NHA, those people that they’re around today will continue to be important in their lives.

I decided to get into politics actually because of my experience at Walker. My fourth grade teacher was the social studies teacher. He really just had a way of making the material really exciting. Helped us understand how important the role of government really is and the impact that you can have on people’s lives. So we took our trip to the state capitol and I really fell in love with the work and the opportunity to have an impact on the people around you.

Walker really did prepare me for some of the challenges that I face today working on legislative issues, some of the biggest challenges that our state faces. I left Walker as someone that was a critical thinker and understood not only the academic side of what I needed to know, but really the moral understanding of what it means to find a solution that’s good for the most people.

Of the Moral Focus virtues, courage really stands out at times, particularly when you work in government and politics. You have to have the courage to speak up, because at times you will definitely be challenged with situations where there’s an incentive not to speak up. But at the end of the day, it is my job to be a voice for the people that my boss represents.

My name is Steven Gilbert and I’m a proud NHA alum.