City announces Ella Watkins as August’s Hub City Hero

JACKSON, Tenn. — The City of Jackson has announced Ella Watkins as the Hub City Hero for August.

The city says Watkins is a retired Jackson-Madison County Schools educator, who also founded Sisters with Aspiring Goals, or SWAG.

The city says the goal of SWAG is to “provide young women with skills and resources to obtain future goals and careers of their choice.”

“I started to wonder what my life would’ve been like if I had to endure some of the same tragedies as these young girls,” Watkins said. “I can only thank God for the strong, confident, and caring people that were placed in my life to support and hold me to a higher standard.”

The city says Watkins often works with the Recreation and Parks Department to put on events like the Human Trafficking Awareness seminar and more.

“A hero is defined as a person, who in the opinion of others, is a role model. Ella is just that,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger. “She is a model for selflessness in service for the young women and girls in the SWAG program.”

Watkins joins Chris Istvanko, Steve Beverly, Juanita Jones, Julanne Stone, A.J. Merriweather, Lauren Pritchard Cobb, and Allison Erath Shipp as Hub City Heroes.

After a year of winners have been selected by the city, one person will be awarded $1,000 to donate to a non-profit of their choice.

To learn more, click here.

To nominate a Hub City Hero, click here.