I have often cited my Jesuit education as a huge reason for how I have become whom I’ve become, and I will continue to keep citing it. But of course there’s more to the story. I didn’t enter parochial school until the seventh grade, so I was in public school up until that time. I attended; Monroe School, Campbell, CA, kindergarten and part of first grade; Norkirk Elementary, Kirkland, WA, part of first and part of second grade; Lakes Elementary School, Lacey, WA, part of second through fifth grade; and Bancroft Elementary, Spokane, WA, sixth grade. In addition, after my entrance into Jesuit middle school and high school, I continued to receive disability-related services through the Spokane Public Schools. Eternally thankful as I am to the Jesuits for giving me moral grounding and honed critical thinking skills, I was also shaped in innumerable ways by many public school teachers who came before. I’m painfully aware that I didn’t always make it very easy; some would also rightly contend that this continued into adulthood. But, rest assured, your lessons did indeed take. Some just took longer than others to take root. Yes, school choice is important. My parents made great choices that worked out great for me. But it’s also important to not let the public school system wither away, because there are times where public school is the best choice. So, even though many will never see it either because they don’t follow me or because they are sadly no longer with us, I want to thank Ms. McDonald, Ms. Little, Ms. Howe, Ms. Andrews, Ms. Maherrin, Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Franzen, Mr. Stevens, Mrs. Marschner, Mrs. Smith, Miss Paff, Mr. Maywalt, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Sullivan, and others I no doubt left out due to failing memory for being great exemplars of public school education, and for playing a huge part in teaching me how to be.
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