February 4, 2014
”My parents live in Missouri, I live in the moment.”
TKC: So what drives you every day? What motivates you?
“The kids. I am here for the kids. I want them to succeed. I want them to do well. I want them to be successful adults. It’s about the kids and the students. The people that I work with are wonderful, very supportive. It’s a great school. It’s a great district. I’m pretty fortunate to be here.”
“Transferring here from a trailer park in the Fox school has really opened my eyes. You get so used to coming from such a judgemental area, but the second you enter Kirkwood, all that judgement went away.”
TKC: “If you could give advice to a large group of people, what would it be?”
“Control your anger.”
TKC: “Have you ever not controlled your anger?”
“Yes. People can be disrespectful towards me, but there can be bad consequences if you don’t, and it might not be worth it.”
TKC: “What’s your philosophy on life?”
“Just be. I feel like we get really, really caught up on labels and defining people as this, that or the other and we forget that people are just people. We just need to be.”
TKC: “How do you think people would describe you?”
“That’s a dangerous question.”
TKC: “If you could give advice to a large group of people, what would it be?”
“I would tell them to always look for the good in people because I think that everyone is so quick to judge, but before you judge you really have to just search for the good in people. You have to stop and think, ‘is this person’s heart in the right place?. You might not like what they’re doing but you have to respect what they’re trying to do and who they are.”
TKC: Why do you feel it is so important to help people?
“Well, from as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to help people because if you look around in the world, everyone is struggling. I mean, I just want to make the world a better place in some way, and by helping people I feel like I can do that.”
“My parents didn’t get officially divorced until eighth grade.”
TKC: Was it hard going through that?
“It was hard with the separation because when you’re a kid you think your parents are together forever. They just sat me and my brother down and said ‘No we’re getting separated; you’ve seen your dad on the couch; we just don’t really love each other anymore.’ The world comes crashing down but it got better.”
TKC: If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
“I would want advanced genetics so that I could get a large animal to be the size of a small animal and be a pet…Riddle me this, who doesn’t want a tiny bear or elephant.”
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