The organization says Warren-Barnes “embodies the spirit of this award through her visionary ability to articulate and inspire, her innovative approach to problem solving, her courage to challenge the status quo for the benefit of others and her talent for realizing her vision through collaboration.”

Warren-Barnes is a Montgomery native and holds degrees from Alabama State University, Auburn University at Montgomery (Masters in Justice & Public Safety in 2002) and Troy University Montgomery.

She began her judicial career in 2004 and in 2016 became the first African American female to serve as Court Administrator of the 15th judicial circuit.

For 10 years, Warren-Barnes has voluntarily assisted the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office with its I-Lead program which educates 5th grade students about the judicial system.

In addition to her judicial work Warren-Barnes also runs her own business, All Things Positive, to share uplifting messages through social media and wearable art.

“As a current member of our athletics staff and the parent of an STJ alumna, he lives out our Trojan core values of character, commitment, courage and community in all he does and sets a positive example for the players and students he coaches. He believes in intentionally making team sports an experience for developing character and teaching students lessons that will benefit them throughout their lives.”

Hall joined the St. James coaching staff in 2017 when his daughter KK enrolled in the school. He joined the girls’ basketball and softball staffs as an assistant that year, moving up to take over the head coaching duties of the softball program the following year.

Earlier this month, the Trojan softball team set a school record for wins and reached the semifinals of the 3A state tournament.

“I’ve dealt with basketball, with the girls’ program, but I’ve also done my softball duties and my football duties,” Hall said. “To be able to do it full time, and to lead a program, is just something I couldn’t turn down. It’s just a passion.”

He was a member of the Robert E. Lee basketball team in the early 1990s when the Generals reached the 6A state finals and was considered one of the state’s best. He then went to Auburn University at Montgomery (1998) and played for Larry Chapman. Ironically, Nigel Card was an assistant under Chapman and coached Hall in the mid 1990s before later accepting a job at St. James in 2010-11.

Now, Hall will replace Card, who retired in May as the Trojans’ winningest boys’ basketball coach after 14 years with the program.

“I played at AUM for Coach Chapman and Coach Card,” Hall said, “so coming in and following one of my mentors, Nigel Card, and watching how he did things with that basketball program, there’s a lot of stuff I’ll take away from that and use. He’s so smart when it comes to the X’s and O’s of basketball that it would be silly not to pay close attention to what he did and use some of those things.”

Hall has spent the last eight years as an assistant on the girls’ basketball team under Katie Barton and while he said there will be some aspects of Card’s coaching style that will continue because of Hall’s familiarity with the program, there also will be some pieces that will come from previous stops at Georgia Washington Middle School, Capital Heights Middle School and Evangel Christian Academy prior to his tenure at St. James.

“I think every new coach that comes in wants to put in their own style and their own way of doing things,” Hall said. “I think, for me, it’s using the blueprint that Katie Barton has done and just engaging all the way from youth and elementary age all the way up to varsity level, just to try and create some excitement in that program.”

He is currently the executive director for Montgomery Habitat for Humanity and will have to step down from that position to take on full-time coaching duties at St. James, which will include work as a middle school and high school physical education teacher, an assistant middle school football coach under Keith Lucky, head boys’ basketball coach and head softball coach.

While the basketball and softball seasons overlap at times, Hall didn’t see it as a conflict.

“That’s something I’m familiar with from being involved with the girls’ basketball program,” he said. “That’s an annual juggling act to try to make sure your softball team is ready but also trying to advance in the (basketball) playoffs. We’re going to try and be as successful as we can in every program at St. James. The good thing about it is I have good, established assistant coaches in softball that can help with that transition.”

This tiny, and innocent act of placing a toy duck on Jeeps took off like wildfire. (If you know anything about Jeep enthusiasts, you know they’re a tight-knit community.) Pictures and stories of ducking began to spread on social media. Parliament then went on to begin DuckDuckJeep, an online community for people to share their stories of ducking; according to their official website, Jeeps have been ducked throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as in China, Australia, India, and dozens of other countries.

The Official Ducking Jeep Facebook page was established in July of 2020, and currently has over 79,000 members. Parliament stated in the first rule on that page that it was “created to spread kindness, so please be kind.”

The movement reached its height of prominence in 2022, when the Detroit Auto Show promoted itself with the “world’s largest duck,” an inflatable rubber duckie which stood 61 feet tall and weighed over 8,000 pounds. The duck was placed outside next to the Jeep lineup, with fans and passers-by invited to snap pictures.

Jeep fans have been sending condolences out on social media and are also looking for ways to honor Parliament and the Jeep ducking trend that she began. So if you happen to have a rubber duck handy and see a Jeep today, it’s a good day to make that Jeep’s owner smile.

Read more at Road and Track.

Not only did she get a chance to work at the hospital but is now vice president of nursing operations at Children’s of Alabama.

As VP of nursing operations, Mason is responsible for the oversight of daily inpatient nursing operations inclusive of critical care, acute care, emergency, and dialysis departments.

She previously served as Chief Nursing Officer.

Being CNO “pulled in all responsibility for nurses at Children’s of Alabama,” she said. “We’re rebuilding our employee pool, our nursing pool, and even outside of nursing as an organization. … [We’re] in this period of intentional focus on staff, not just with self-care for our leaders but what do we do as an organization to really support them.”

Her career at Children’s for the past 26 years was the perfect fit because of her work in pediatrics and caring for children.

“It’s just different. It’s fun. It’s the innocence of what [children] bring every day, how they can reenergize you, how they can build you up even when they may not be feeling the best. That is very unique to pediatrics. … [Children’s] is always centered on kids, and it’s just a fun place to work.”

It’s not uncommon to see superheroes walking down the hallway, Mason said, and they sometimes are a source of strength for the kids.

“There are occasions when we have superhero characters dressed and available in areas to visit with patients and their families. … Those are the things we miss over time as we grow into adults. … You lose that kind of innocence and that general sense of what it feels like to be a child.”

Focus

Mason was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, alongside one older sibling and two younger siblings. She attended George Washington Carver High School, where she was part of the marching band.

“I played the clarinet,” said Mason, adding that she chose the instrument because “the keys fascinated me and seemed challenging to maneuver. I thought it would be fun to give it a try. In addition, one of my aunts played the clarinet, and I would sit and listen to her rehearse when spending time at my grandparents’ house during the summer months.”

After graduating from high school in 1991, Mason attended Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University (AAMU) in Huntsville, Alabama, for one year.

“I had a lot of fun during my freshman year at [AAMU]. My parents thought I was having a little too much fun,” she said.

While at AAMU, Mason played in the clarinet section for the Marching Maroon and White Band. She acknowledges that her focus was not where it needed to be, so she returned home and transferred to AUM, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1996. She practiced at Montgomery Regional Hospital (now LewisGale Hospital Montgomery) and Baptist Medical Center South before moving to Birmingham.

Asked what inspired her to become a nurse, Mason replied, “My dad, [Jessie Posey], because my original plan included becoming a pediatrician. After my first year at [AAMU], he really talked about nursing and said he thought it would be great for me, so I gave it a shot.

When it comes to her career path, Mason credits her dad, who retired from Alagasco (now Spire), “who was there to support me throughout the time,” she said.

“He reinforced the importance of hard work and the importance of being an independent adult. [My siblings and I] would consistently hear this message growing up,” Mason added. “He helped me believe I could achieve anything and that anything is possible. His support is never-ending. And although there were times I thought he was a little tough on us, I appreciate every life lesson he took the time to share with my siblings and me.”

Move to The Magic City

Mason moved to Birmingham in 1998 when her husband’s job relocated. “I stayed [in Montgomery for most] of my life until I moved and [joined] Children’s of Alabama. … During that time, [COA] had a hiring freeze, so it took me about three months to get an interview for a job,” she said, adding that she started at Children’s in 1998, when she accepted a job in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), where she worked for about 16 years.

“I started out as a bedside nurse, moved into subbing in and handling some charge nurse responsibilities, and then transitioned into being a nursing unit educator responsible for onboarding new nurses and overseeing the orientation period to ensure quality learning about the PICU.”

Mason held that position for several years before earning a master’s degree in Nursing Health Systems Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2014.

“Then I moved on to focus more on nursing quality work, [looking] at how we can provide optimal patient outcomes,” she said. “[I did that] for about a year, then I decided to take the leap into administration”

Mason took a nursing division director position, which involved being accountable for all of the inpatient acute-care floors and acute-care units, as well as the emergency department and dialysis facility. In June 2021, she was promoted to the role of vice president of nursing operations, which incorporated all of the inpatient areas; all of the hospital’s division directors report to her.

Stepping Up

Asked what prompted her decision to transition into administration after working with children for so long, Mason said, “It wasn’t really until I completed my master’s studies, which really made me start thinking seriously about administration. It just opened my world.”

“[The UAB Master’s in Nursing Health Systems Administration] program really enlightened me to the different side of nursing in reference to the decision making, the strategy piece of it, and how to transfer that over to complement and help build and support frontline teams.”

After completing that program, Mason was able to accomplish her goals with the help of mentors. “I think it’s very important to have a mentor, especially when you’re heading into uncharted territories you are not familiar with.”

Mason is married to Robert, and they have seven children: Terrence; LaDarius; Marquise; Jackie; Sydney; Kelia; and Paris.

Nursing shortages have always been a concern in the medical community, and even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. That has not gotten in the way of care at Children’s, though, Mason said.

“We experienced consistent state of shortages for nurses even before [the pandemic], but COVID-19 magnified the need for nurses, and [Children’s of Alabama] has not been exempt from that. We are in a transforming era of nursing. Mindfulness of the profession is changing, but the passion for why we do what we do as nurses has not deviated. We have professionals who work tirelessly to serve the needs of our patients.”

Read more at the Birmingham Times.