Olive Giles is also a mentor, musician and very humble about her dedication to students
By: Hilary Parker
How to describe secretary, musician and mentor Olive Giles in a single word?
Quite simply humble.
A secretary for the Princeton High School Child Study Team and Guidance Department for more than a decade, Ms. Giles regularly goes above and beyond the call of duty to serve as a mentor to students of minority backgrounds and as an information source to everyone in the Princeton Regional Schools.
But the self-described "information person" is loath to talk about herself.
"I’m one of those quiet background people," she said, almost shyly.
For proof of this fact, just ask her about Success 101 a districtwide group of minority staff and faculty members "set up quietly in the background" in 1999 to promote cultural awareness.
She’s more than happy to laud quasi-retired high school guidance counselor Shirley Satterfield’s efforts as the leader of PULSE (Pride Unity Leadership Sisterhood Esteem), a group for female high school students. And she’s thrilled to extol the hard work of high school social worker Lenora Keel with the Sarnoff Corp.’s Dixon Mentoring in Engineering Program.
Without asking the right questions, though, one might never discover that Ms. Giles herself leads an inspirational group for students roughly once a month.
"We explore the similarities between African-American culture and Caribbean culture," she said of the meetings that usually last about an hour. "We try to trace back the similarities amongst our ancestors, rather than the differences."
She also leads an inspirational choir at the high school that explores similar topics through music.
Beyond these more official activities, Ms. Giles is forever making sure that information about opportunities makes it to the appropriate places in a way no one ever did for her when she was growing up in Harlem and attending school in the South Bronx and Manhattan.
"I’ve been living here for about 19 years now and the wealth of information that’s just not being utilized in the right way, it’s just stunning," she explained. "I like passing along anything that I hear about that someone else can use."
Always on the lookout for financial aid or scholarships available to students of minority backgrounds, Ms. Giles subscribes to a number of culturally based electronic distribution lists to keep on top of opportunities. Her awareness even led the high school recently to nominate two students for a "Today Show" program looking to profile black students as they navigate the college application process. In the meantime, when she learned of a grant opportunity available to science teachers from the Toyota Motor Corp., she quickly sent the information along to the high school science department.
"No one did it for me," she said. "There were very few mentors in my neighborhood for what I needed."
Despite the fact that she never met a guidance counselor throughout her entire high school career, Ms. Giles apparently navigated those difficult adolescent waters just fine. A performer since age 4, she earned a degree in music from City University of New York after graduating from the High School of Music and Art and previously taught music for 15 years in the New York public schools.
She’s as humble about her musical accomplishments like the fact that she’s performed with Michael Jackson and Arlene Smith of the Chantels as she is about her other endeavors.
"Oh, that was in my college days," Ms. Giles said of the time she shared the stage with the King of Pop, as if to downplay the accomplishment.
Nowadays, she still steps into the spotlight on the weekends as a performer with the Philadelphia-based Eddie Bruce Entertainment company, making regular appearances at the Four Seasons Hotel and The Meadowlands. Just for kicks, she has also been known to ham it up as a member of "The Guidance Suites," a musical entourage featuring several members of the guidance department.
She shares her love of music with her husband, classical musician Michael Giles, and her two sons 26-year-old Christopher Taylor and 16-year-old Ju- maane Giles. (A veritable fountain of information, Ms. Giles noted that Jumaane is Swahili for "boy born on Tuesday.")
Perhaps not surprisingly, she’s much happier to talk about her family members’ talents than her own abilities.
That’s just her way.

