Terry H.

About twenty five years ago I met Terry H., and we had a conference about one of her children. Josh was in the sixth grade at the time and an entrepreneur. He was selling candy at lunch. This really was a harmless activity, but I thought it might be nice to get to know his folks and set up the conference. Now we have remained good friends ever since. As I remember it, Josh no longer sold candy at lunch, but 25 years dims my memory considerably. I am sure that he is a mover and shaker in today's world. His older brother was an excellent swimmer, and his sister was a fantastic dancer who helped lead her high school squad, "The Vikettes,' a cheer and drill team, to become state champions. Perhaps best of all was the high spirits generated by this team at her home school. Terry was the mom behind this busy family and always involved in the lives of her kids.

At some point, I advertised a job at my school for the position of Academy director. The Valley Academy was the part of our school where we challenged students to do well in academics and set the expectation that our graduates would attend college. Gradually as this program developed, more and more of our students met this challenge. Terry applied for this position, and with her usual panache she pointed out what a terrific addition she would be to our staff, and that she indeed would make the Academy program a success. Now, I knew her as one terrific and involved mom, but best of all I got to see her develop professionally in her new role at the director of our Academy. Under her leadership we eventually encouraged many of our student to take advanced placement courses, always raising expectations, and ultimately our graduates changed from 22% attending college to nearly 80%. I also got to work with my good friend Terry. She has now retired from the educational world and has settled near her children and grandkids. She should write about her life and could inspire others by her fine leadership example.