I once had 15 girls at Nerinx wanting to help me finish building a wooden bus after school. I have always been able to find a group of students who would do anything I ask. It could be a 5 minute job or 3 hours of hard work. If I ask them, they trust me. They also know I will be working next to them until the task is done. It is a heavy responsibility to know kids will walk through walls with you, if you ask. I think all of this started out at Priory, probably in Room 6 or the computer room with a group of eager 7th graders.
Be Reliable. Be Faithful. Finish what you start. This is Marian Wright Edelman's 24th lesson out of 25 that she wanted to share with her sons. I cannot think of a time when Danny Higa would not be ready to do anything I ask to help others or to make his school, Saint Louis Priory better. He was the real deal and a very conscientious kid, but he always had a smile on his face and was ready to do what was needed. He told me today, that the first thing I said to him was that I had seen his 7th grade science test and I knew he could do better. I like teaching math and I think I am good at it. But I think my biggest strength as a teacher is to be the coach and cheerleader at the same time. And to have high standards for all of my students. I remember Dave Winkler, my eighth grade teacher, and he never let me rest. Sometimes I would get a 90 on a math test and he told me that I could do better. I did this enormous book report on Ladislaw Faragow's book, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph. It was all because Dave Winkler challenged me to be better or really to be the person I was capable of being.
Danny Higa, never disappointed, he never disappointed. He was always there just on the outskirts doing the right thing. Trying his best to be the best he could be. He was the first real soccer fan I knew, and there was no doubt that his allegiance was to -- Argentina. I don't remember why we did it, but at one time I led about 50 7th and 8th grade boys on a parade to the soccer field. Danny had helped me get the recording to Alle ! Alle! Alle! That was before the internet or even iTunes, but somehow we found it. It dawns on me right now, that I had no skin in the game, I should have been cheering for Argentina, just for Danny. Sorry, Dan.
Dan told me early on that he wanted to be an airline pilot. I remember introducing him to my dad at some kind of event. My dad was an airline pilot. The cool thing about Dan is he never stopped pursuing that dream. He has been an airline pilot and is now a corporate pilot to spend more time with his family and his kids. I told him today that it was cool that he fulfilled his dream that he had from the 7th grade. He corrected me, I wanted to be a pilot since I was three.
I am so glad that Dan is living his dream and he is flying. I am not kidding I liked this kid from the first time I met him and he was always there with a smile or a laugh. I made it obvious about my interests and Danny and the other 7th graders would give me trouble about Marquette or basketball or something else. I bet if I had tapes of my teaching or leading a prayer service at Priory. Dan Higa was always right there with that slim smile of approval. He made me want to be a better teacher and I always wanted to know more so I could be a better teacher for students like Dan.
Father Boyle says, "We see in the students (homies) what they do not see in themselves . . . until they do." I kind of always Dan knew the game and knew his abilities, but I realize now he was just a small 7th grader with a lot of doubts and a lot of uncertainties. I am so damn proud of who he is today. I saw Dan at my Quik Trip just a little while back and we talked for just a minute, but I did not tell him how happy I was on that drive home up Laclede Station. I just kept laughing out loud, because I was so proud and so happy for him.
I have never seen Dan with his family, I think I was introduced to his wife once, yet I know for sure that he is a great Dad. He is kind, he is supportive, he is selfless, and he is always thinking about others.
Dan likes to fly and I am the proud son of a pilot. I think this poet is a distant relative, but I want you to read the poem and savor the words and think about a young man I know flying high. Tonight on the way home, I opened up my windows in the dark and let the wind blow in my face. I turned the radio off and started singing an old Harry Chapin song. It was not the same, but for a moment I thought I was flying.
High Flight
"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined
the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
A poem by John Gillespie Magee
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God." I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
A poem by John Gillespie Magee
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