With the close of last school year, I completed my 30th campaign in education. Each of those years has been filled with joy and sorrow, challenges and successes, ups and downs and a ton of stories worth sharing. My (True) Life in Education Thus Far will detail 30 or so of those stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed living (most) of them!
MY HOMETOWN
FEBRUARY 1, 2023
To write that I loved the 20 years I worked at Regis Jesuit High School would be a significant understatement.
I was 24 when I arrived, newly married and childless. I was 44 when I departed with 3 children and re-married. Those life changes, in-and-of-themselves, made those years perhaps the most influential of my entire life, certainly the 20 years of my life that were quantitatively filled with the most changes.
I have had two other positions since I left Regis Jesuit which I will write about in future blogs and I have loved both of those as well, particularly my current position as principal of Mullen High School. Comparing all of these chapters in my professional life is somewhat silly. I cannot and will not say I loved any of my jobs more than any others.
I will say that, by the time I walked out of the doors as an employee of Regis Jesuit, I was very, very aware that I was working in my hometown. By that I mean my 20 years at the school and the actions I had taken, the roles I had played, the stories I had told and the myths that had grown were cemented parts of who I was perceived to be.
The interactions of 20 years were primarily positive. My efforts were primarily well intentioned. My philosophies of education and leadership were primarily fully baked. But I had conflicts, I made bad decisions, I upset people usually unintentionally but there were times I intentionally did so as well. My history was long and known and, in some cases, documented.
That I am proud of most of that history is true. That I am not as happy about other pieces of it is equally true.
I was very, very well known in my hometown. What I realized when I left is how others knew me was informed by their experience of me but also by their experience of what they thought about and heard about me. And I also realized that I cared very much about perceptions and narratives over which I had very little control.
As my departure date approached, I heard more-and-more about those perceptions.
What I was forced to consider is how much I allowed my history to define me and how much that definition played into my departure from the school.
While I am thrilled that life took me in other fruitful directions, the reality is, I thought I would retire from Regis Jesuit.
How the end played out had much to do with being known in my hometown.