Allie Schumacher on the Tyra Banks Show

In response to her article in the August 2009 issue of Seventeen Magazine, former cadet Allie Schumacher has been invited onto the Tyra Banks show next Thursday. Congratulations again, Allie!

The Triumph and Tragedy of Poetry

There were no Poetry Slams in the 80’s (to my knowledge). There was, however, the Forensics umbrella which included various forms of competitive poetry reading.

The year I was involved in this, 86/87, was the year civilian clothes were absolutely forbidden by the otherwise perfect and saintly Col. Merritt. This meant I had to wear my uniform which made me stick out like a zit ready to explode. I couldn’t exactly be judged by my performance when I’m wearing, basically, a costume or sign that says “I’m from a military school! Judge me accordingly!” If my family could have afforded the prep-school looking civilian-ish outfit offered at the Quartermaster, I might have fared better.

To counteract what I considered my fascist appearance, I decided to present some “anti-war” poetry.

Unlike poetry slams, in formal competitive poetry you can not read anything you’ve written. Or your friends, for that matter – it has to be published poetry. So I used lyrics:

• “Master of Puppets” by James Hetfield
• “Goodnight, Saigon” by William Joel
• “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by James Hetfield

I wasn’t … by my standards … very good … but I can act and project and stuff. It always came down to me and this one other guy. No matter where I went in the state I had to face him. He always got first place and I always got second.

He was so good. I hated him for it. This bastard would start off slow … then body slam the judges by doing Shel Silverstein’s “Deaf Donald” … it was always over by then but did he stop? Oh NO just in case there were any judges still considering me, he’d then go into this epic reading of “The Sounds of Silence” and pound me into the ground.

I had more to write but now I’m in too sh***y of a mood.

Zero Tolerance Policy

Recently, someone posted comments saying nasty things about the students of Sarasota Community Schools. The comments were immature, inappropriate and were, accordingly, removed.

Even more recently, another directed accusations at a young lady I wrote about.

I have no respect for someone – especially anonymous someones – beating up on children. If you must defame children barely into puberty, please don’t do it here. Apparently the courts are fine with you cyber-bullying youngsters on Facebook and MySpace so take your cowardly and stupid comments there.

Howe Hazing In the Media

Former cadet Allie Schumacher was published in the August 2009 issue of Seventeen magazine (page 166). Schumacher wrote an article on her experiences at Howe. I spoke with the young lady, age 16, and she informed me that hazing – which was minimal if it existed at all while I attended – was a regular practice in more recent years.

Schumacher is also a very talented photographer. Congratulations, Allie, on getting published in a national magazine!

Needy Cadet Fund

From the HMS Development Facebook page:

Scholarship for worthy cadet for the 2009-2010 school year!
The Development Office was approached by Admissions Director, Dr. Smith, with a request to find more scholarship funds. It seems several families are struggling financially to come back next year. There is one family inparitcular he presented to us who needs assistance. This is a young man who came to Howe last year. He needs and longs to be at HMS. The public schools in his home town were not the answer for him. He came to Howe with a low self esteem, but by May that had all changed. He even visited his grandfather in FL, this summer and wore his heavy wool Howe uniform on the plane. He is proud to be at Howe. We had the opportunity to get to know this cadet better during the school year and got to see what a remarkable young man he has become. He is worthy of any scholarship support our alumni can give him.

We are looking for alumni who can donate any amount, and help this young man return in August.

Please let us know if you can help this cadet, by sending a scholarship donation to Howe in the mail, paypal on the schools website or by credit card over the phone.

If you would like further information about the cadet please contact the Development Office
(260) 562-2131 ext. 228.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Recent update:

Scholarship Donation

The 2009-2010 school year is going to be starting in 2 weeks. Cadets start arriving on Saturday the 15th. I am contacting you regarding the donation you had stated you were interested in giving towards our needy cadet scholarship fund. It is important that we finalize the finances of the cadet we made the request for and your promised donation is important in that factor. If you could please contact me today and let me know the amount you intend to donate, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. If you are unable to donate at this time please let me know as well.

Thank you for your continued support of HMS and its programs.

Tracy Rosen
trosen@howemilitary.com
260-562-2131 Ext. 228

Keep Up with HMS News and Events

Receiving each free issue of the Howe Review – a sweet full-color magazine with news about current students and alumni – is as easy as emailing the Development Office with your current address. Birthday cards and Christmas cards are also sent to your current address each year.

Download new issues of the Howe Herald at the official alumni page.

Howemilitary.com also includes a Sports News page which is updated regularly. There are also sports schedules online. I don’t think the sports calendar works.

In addition to several HMS related links for …

MySpace
http://howemilitaryschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-alumni-club/

FaceBook
http://howemilitaryschool.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/facebook-groups/

… I posted (and the numbers of alumni there continues to grow), Jean Miller is on Facebook both personally and as HMS Development.

The Road To Teaching Part 15

At present, I am under contract at a company that offers – for full-time permanent employees – 100% tuition reimbursement at partner colleges and universities. The only program I saw that I was excited about was a Masters in Education. You guessed it – only for certified teachers. But wait – there are two exceptions to that restriction:

1. If you work at a private school (many of which don’t require certification)
2. If you’re a substitute teacher

I emailed everyone I’d ever been in contact with at the School District of Manatee County (SDMC) to see if they still had a hiring freeze. They didn’t. I took this morning off and got my fingerprints taken ($62), paid the application fee ($50), and signed up for the orientation class (Sept. something).

After the class I can not only sub if I had the need or desire but I can apply to the program … if I actually get hired full-time permanent.

The Road To Teaching Part 14

Sarasota Community School is closing. Or, I should say, evolving. Regardless, it doesn’t seem they’ll need me as a teacher but perhaps in some other capacity. Here are some pictures I took just to show the difference from the razor wire and stainless steel furniture of Palmetto Youth Academy.

The Road To Teaching Part 13

My hopes for some long-term success at Palmetto Youth Academy (PYA) didn’t really work out but my hopes haven’t been completely dashed. I’m reading through a study guide for the General Knowledge FTCE (the second of three exams I have to take for my certification) and I’m obtained a similar position at Sarasota Community School which is almost a mirror reflection or exact opposite of the environment and culture of PYA.

While at PYA, I had lots of passion and vision for ways to reach and inspire the kids. I really felt I had a connection with some of them and the respect of most if not all of them. I felt like quitting the job was abandoning the kids – especially the ones who seemed to particularly be happy I was there.

What I heard most from the administration was, “You’re too friendly with the kids.” A close second was, “Too much positive feedback isn’t good for them.”

No, I’m not kidding.

Among my other goals there was to take a teaching position there. I’d always thought I’d be happiest at a private school where all the kids loved to learn and were well-behaved. I was never one of those people who took all their education classes (which I didn’t take – I’m not an education major) bright-eyed and dreaming of being in an urban school where they can’t afford things like books and toilet paper (in Detroit, where I’m from, recent headlines reported that students were asked to bring their own toilet paper). But I fell in love with the kids and classrooms at PYA.

The turnover for teachers is as high as it is for Youth Care Workers so I was just waiting for someone to quit or get fired. I feel like it was weakness on my part that I broke before that happened. I will always remember those kids and I hope I will remember to pray for them.

The Road To Teaching Part 12

Here’s the second Facebook note. I sent the two together in an email to my loved ones not on Facebook with the subject line “I Am Finally Proud of What I Do.” As it turns out, I did quit on them. I was the last new person of my training class but I did, in fact, walk out one day in the middle of a shift. As with everyone else I said “it wasn’t the kids.”

Front gate to all the jails for men, women and juveniles.

April 24, 2009
Something At Work That Almost Made Me Cry

“You’re not gonna to quit on us, too, are you Mr. Sprout?” – One of “my kids” upon hearing that yet another Youth Care Worker was leaving.

In the last week, two youth care workers quit and the best, most effective therapist got fired for questioning the system or some such nonsense. The turnover there is as high as I was told and whenever someone quits or talks about quitting they all say the same thing: “I love the kids but I just can’t work for this administration anymore.”

No, I won’t quit on them. A favorite quote comes to mind:

“While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight, I’ll fight to the very end!” – William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army When searching for that quote so I could copy & paste it, I found this one, too: “It is against stupidity in every shape and form that we have to wage our eternal battle. But how can we wonder at the want of sense on the part of those who have had no advantages, when we see such plentiful absence of that commodity on the part of those who have had all the advantages?” – William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

The Road To Teaching Part 11

I briefly worked at Palmetto Youth Academy (PYA) in Palmetto, FL as a youth care worker. PYA is a maximum security juvenile detention facility for violent offenders. Not just drug-related offenses, for example, but drug-related (or unrelated) involving a firearm. The atmosphere was extremely negative, political, paranoid and hostile – and I’m talking about the staff and administration not the “violent juvenile offenders.” This entry and the next entry are two notes I wrote on my Facebook page about my experience at PYA.

After driving through the front gate of the complex, past two lines of razor wire and over a small bridge, Palmetto Youth Academy is inside yet another two razor wire fences.

April 6, 2009
Boys In Chains

Every day, my very, very, very claustrophobic wife asks how I can work behind so many locked doors, several fences topped with razor wire, etc. and I explain that sort of thing has never bothered me. If someone said I was going to be in solitary confinement for 13 months (and I’d done something to deserve it) I’d be fine with it. It’s like being trapped on a desert island except you get three meals a day and unlimited, undisturbed reading time. Yesterday, however, I had to transport a young man to a Department of Juvenile Justice place where he would be on his way home.

My nightmares involve being locked in places unable to get out – which is different. Small, confined places don’t bother me. If I were whisked away to Extraordinary Rendition somewhere and nobody knew where I was and I was being questioned for God Knows What … that would freak me out. Not the torture … the unknown factors … Remember Robert DeNiro in Awakenings? All he wanted to do was take a walk? THAT gave me nightmares. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest? Threatened with a lobotomy if he didn’t behave? That scares me.

That’s why I didn’t like getting high 20-25 years ago. I can sober up from alcohol INSTANTANEOUSLY … my buzzes are very fragile … my wife nagging me, me needing to do something important … but getting high? You can’t stop that until the weed decides you’re done. I don’t like that. Drugs are B-A-D.

Anyway, I digress. I had to lock a young man up in leg chains, wrist chains, and handcuffs yesterday for the journey to a different facility. I could feel myself … my eyes watering up … not cool. Then we get to the Department of Juvenile Justice place which is not a warm & fuzzy rehab, caring/loving, bedtime snacks and ice cream parties with Xbox night type of place (like PYA). I may have mentioned the other night a young man was packed to be released the NEXT DAY and the judge changed his mind? That messed with me. And while we were at the DJJ there was a paperwork mixup that almost sent the kid back to our facility instead of home. The look in his eyes … he looked like I felt. It all worked out. He may be home this very moment. At worst, he’s in a group home on his way there.

I shared all this with the fellow staff member I drove with. He said it was great I cared and had sympathy, blah blah blah but not to forget why these kids are there. He reminded me why they’re in a maximum security facility. “These are not good kids that got caught with a bag of weed,” he said. Not even selling a bag of weed. “These kids committed violent crimes with guns.” Armed robberies, taking a shotgun into a shopping mall in a moment of rage, hardcore gang/drug warfare etc.

I know all that. I know. But when they knock on their cell door at night to call and ask, “Mr. Sprout, can I have a drink of water?” that’s not what I see. When they ask on a Saturday afternoon, “It’s so boring in here, Mr. Sprout can you ask [the shift supervisor] if we can go out and play?” it doesn’t seem that way. Can I have a glass of water? Can we go out and play? These are the same kids that will sometimes say, “Bitch, if I ever see you on the outside…” and hold their hand like they’re pointing a gun at my head … or, if I’m intervening in an argument, “Get your f***ing hands off me before I flip your ass.” But they’re still just boys … younger than my oldest daughter …

Surreal. That’s how I would describe my job. It’s always like a dream. Sometimes nice, like during a Bible study when they’re more excited than you EVER see people actually in church because it’s all new to these kids … sometimes it’s like a nightmare like when you catch them in an office that was accidentally left open and two of them are on the phone. “I don’t think it’s your time for a phone call” gets answered with “How ’bout we jump you right here?” and you’re all alone. But, I must say, I love it. And I’ll trade it for living in a cubicle any day for the rest of my life.

This isn't the basketball court for PYA - it's the men's jail next to it - but the view is pretty much the same: guys playing basketball behind razor wire.

Graduation

Father Morgan, Bishop Somebody, and Cadet Jay Sprout during Commencement in May of 1987.

As you knelt before the bishop, you received a Bible and your diploma. The last ceremony you’d participate in as a cadet. It may seem sad but there are plenty other ceremonies you get as an alumnus.

School Ring Ceremony

Cadet Jay Sprout accepting his Howe Military School ring from the Bishop during the 1986/87 school year. Matthew McDonough is the cadet on the far right. Mr. Richard Piper is to the bishop's right.

What I remember most about Howe Military Academy were the traditions. The ceremonies that had been performed for over 100 years before I got there. The ring ceremony was one of the greatest. Equal to or greater than the Boar’s Head Dinner. It was a huge ball. Formal, elegant, wonderful. Each senior received their school ring from the bishop.

Howe does not not have mere “class rings” that look like ever other school’s class rings. These are unique rings worn by only those from Howe Military School. Each one the same except for the year on the side and your name engraved on the inside. If you see another alumnus wearing theirs by chance in an airport or some other chance meeting you know you have something in common with them that no one else shares.

I remember staring at Colonel Merritt’s every time I was near him. It was decades old and he’d never removed it. All the engravings were worn smooth by the years of his life. The ring was only recognizable by the faint details of St. James’ Chapel and the ring’s other defining characteristic – the rectangular onyx stone.

It’s a beautiful thing.

The ceremony was beautiful as was the location. I remember my Mom drove my girlfriend at the time to be my date. This was the girl I gave my virginity to with an AC/DC record (yes, a 33 1/3 vinyl LP) playing in the background. Wow. I lost my virginity to this girl and I haven’t spoken to her in 20+ years. Wow.

8th Grade Photo

It’s been a long time since I posted a photo but I found some more. This is my 8th grade school picture from Howe Military School in 1982-83.

I can’t remember what the ribbons were for. I’m gonna guess Good Conduct, Excellent Grades, Clean Room and something else.

The question on my mind is why is my tie so awesome here but not in my junior or senior year pictures?

Facebook Groups

There’s HMS stuff on myspace, too, but I don’t use myspace so I can’t speak to that. Besides, the groups – which have actual discussions (unlike most facebook groups) – there is also an HMS Development profile you can befriend that I suspect is maintained by the spectacular Jean Miller, Director of Development.

There’s really no difference between them except for the discussion topics. Tell your friends – cyber and otherwise!

• Howe Military School
• Howe Military School Alumni
• The Alumni Club

Search for ‘em, join ‘em, and … I can’t think of a third thing …

Mitch Ryder Concert at Howe Military School

Apparently, the sound system and acoustics in Bouton Auditorium are good enough for a rock concert! Mitch Ryder will be performing during the upcoming 125th school anniversary celebration during Alumni Weekend.

The Road To Teaching Part 10

Yesterday (Saturday, December 20), I received a very nice “rejection” letter from Young Middle Magnet School. Honestly, I was flattered enough that I got an interview and am glad I have one under my belt.

Also in the mailbox was my Letter of Eligibility (yay!) from the Florida Department of Education!

The Road To Teaching Part 9

Last Thursday, I was interviewed by a committee at Young Middle Magnet School in Tampa for a 6th grade Math teacher position. The committee consisted of the  Principal,  two assistant principals, two teachers and a psychologist. I was surprisingly relaxed (but sweating a lot) and it was quite pleasant. They were all friendly and it wasn’t the usual really rotten committee/behavioral interview nightmare. They said they really liked me and that I did very well but there were two people in the lobby waiting to interview as soon as I was done that might have great experience (and education degrees).

No matter what the outcome, it was a definite confidence booster.

The Road To Teaching Part 8

One week ago, I received notification that I passed the Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum FTCE! I’ve been contacting schools about appropriate vacancies since then. There are no vacancies in my county (Manatee) or Sarasota (directly to the South) but there seem to be some in Hillsborough directly to the North. It seems Florida was desperate for teachers until we moved here. The first local headlines I noticed after arriving were about our county slashing the school district’s budget. I certainly don’t mind a long commute if it is for a teaching position. Monroe County Community College was 42 miles from our house in Michigan and that would have only been for one class two days a week – still more than worth it for the chance to teach.

I’ve only been looking at public schools (I am pretty sure they would include charter schools in their job postings) but today I’m going to start combing through the phone book, etc. for Christian schools and the like.

Cross Country

Yesterday, I was covering the Manatee County (Florida) Cross Country Championships for a small, local newspaper (The North River News) and it brought back some really vivid memories. In fact, this nostalgia started early in the day when I was riding to work. It was in the low 40s and since I wasn’t in a car, I had quite a breeze on me. Cross Country was on my mind and I remembered the many, many mornings I had to get up at the crack of dawn and run – in a t-shirt and shorts – in the cold and, often, the rain. I ran as fast as I could just so I could cross the finish line and get back in the van.

I was there in time to catch the varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ teams. Watching the runners, I actually felt the excitement … so many runners and so many opportunities to pass just one more person. I wasn’t very fast so being 14th instead of 15th, for example, was a big deal to me. I was only Most Valuable and Captain because I was the only senior, I think. Actually, being a senior got me Captain but I may just have gotten Most Valuable because everyone else was even slower than me. Howe wasn’t exactly an athletic powerhouse. In fact, from what I hear, it isn’t now either.

That feeling of passing people, improving my time even a little bit and sprinting toward the finish … it got me as excited to start running again as putting together that 2008 Presidential Election Voter Guide got me excited about writing again (hence writing my first article for this local paper).

The Road To Teaching Part 7

Good news! Though there are no pencil/paper dates left in 2008 for the low, low price of $25, there are computer-based tests in December! I’ll find out in the end of November if I passed the MGIC … hopefully I can schedule a December re-take if necessary. It might be financially wise to schedule one just in case. Either I won’t need to and I’ve just flushed $25 or I have to take a re-take in 2009 for like $150. I’d rather spend $25.

Even if I don’t schedule a retake, I’m going to register (next paycheck) for the English 6-12 exam and get an English study guide for the low, low price (that’s irony, just in case you miss it) of $40.

Either way, I’ll continue studying for a MGIC re-take just in case.

The Road To Teaching Part 6

This morning, I took the Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum (MGIC) Florida Teacher Certification Exam (FTCE). It’s divided into four sections – English, Science, Math, and Social Studies. Because of STJ (Stupid Day Job) and family obligations as well as being bedridden with pneumonia and too exhausted to study for a couple weeks, I wasn’t anywhere near as prepared as I would like to have been. I was worried I’d leave the exam feeling like it was just “practice.” However, it was much easier than expected so it’s possible that I’ll find out I passed. Of course, I might also find out I didn’t – but the fact that I don’t know is a good sign (or, at least, a better sign than I thought I’d see).

English was totally a cakewalk except for a question like “Which novel would be best to teach 8th grade students about latino culture and lifestyle” and I had never heard of any of the four choices.

Science had some surprises, but didn’t give me any anxiety. If I take it again, I just definitely have to study weather and electricity more.

Math was the biggest section and here’s the real bummer about that – I got sick just as I was about to study the graphing and geometry materials in my review materials and there were plenty of questions on both. There were some stat and probability questions I didn’t know at all and I thought I was decently prepared for that. Well, at least I will be better prepared next time if there is a next time.

Social Studies was, much to my surprise, the most difficult section with the most “WTF?” questions.

This evening, while my wife and I were at the pool with the kids, she really really encouraged me to get into the University of South Florida’s Masters In Teaching program. I was pleasantly shocked at this (in Michigan, she insisted we couldn’t afford grad school). They have a science-specific one that I am very interested in.

This is my grandma, Eva Gregg (my Mom’s mom), on her college graduation day just before she began her career in teaching.

The Road To Teaching Part 5

The MGIC exam is tomorrow morning. I have had nowhere near enough time to study. Being recently bedridden with pneumonia for 9 days took away my “sprint to the finish” study time.  I wasn’t so worried about that because, until recently, all exams were only $25 so you could actually affordably use one as practice/study. In 2009, however, the first one is $50 and every retake is $100.

The desperation of Florida for teachers that I read about seems to have disappeared about the time I moved here. As soon as we got here, local school districts began slashing budgets. Since then, my county instituted a hiring freeze for substitute teachers (just as I’d convinced my wife to let me quit my stupid day job to start substituting) and the next county over has a freeze for most full-time instructional positions despite have a long list of openings that would need to be filled if they had the money.

The “not so bad” news is elsewhere in the state, it seems areas still need teachers. We just happen to move in to this desolate wasteland with no jobs – including teaching jobs.

The good news is I paid my 13 year old $60 library fine at Hillsdale College so they’re now sending me copies of my transcripts which I can, in turn, send to the Florida Department of Education. Hopefully, they’ll evaluate my transcripts from there, WCC and SAU and see fit to say I have enough English credits to teach English and I can start looking for an English position.

I’m already planning on taking a grades 6-12 science exam ASAP in 2009. I’d prefer General Science or Earth-Space science but it seems biology and chemistry are more in demand. I want to teach kids about learning and discovery and critical thinking … not just memorization. I want to teach them the scientific method and … well, I want to teach them anything if anyone will let me.

Kevin Beuret, Howe Military School Master

He has his own page now which contains this picture and content that I have copied without anyone’s permission. I hope I used “which” and “that” correctly – especially if he reads this.

The Kevin Beuret Page

- ESL Teacher
- B.A. English/French from the U of Saint Francis
- M.S. Secondary Education/English Endorsement from Indiana U

Mr. Beuret joined the staff of Howe Military School in August of 2008. He graduated from Auburn (Indiana) High School in 1963, and from Saint Francis College (now the University of Saint Francis) in Fort Wayne in 1967. For ten weeks following his graduation he worked in language and social programs under the aegis of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. After teaching fifth grade for a semester at Saint Joseph School in Decatur, Indiana, Mr. Beuret traveled to Australia as a Rotary Foundation Fellow, where he studied American literature, Australian literature, and literary theory and criticism at Monash University near Melbourne. He also lectured extensively to service clubs and schools in southeast Victoria on the U.S. Presidency and the American electoral process.

Returning to the United States after further travels across Asia and Europe, Mr. Beuret worked as an engineer and staff announcer at WIFF in Auburn, and as a feature writer for the Auburn Evening Star. In September of 1970 he began a 32-year career as a middle-school English teacher in the Lakeland School Corporation in LaGrange, Indiana, and completed his M.S. in secondary education at the Fort Wayne campus of Indiana University in the summer of 1974. From 2001 to 2004 he appeared as co-host on WNIT’s Dinner and a Book, and from 2002 to 2008 he tutored Latin and administered the NovaNet and English as a Second Language programs at Westview Junior-Senior High School in Topeka, Indiana.

Mr. Beuret’s interests include travel, cooking, reading, politics, bridge, and writing humorous poetry for his friends’ amusement. He lives in Howe with his two cats, Eleanor and Lucy.

My Grudge Against Thaddeus Flesch

My boss sent me to the Post Office yesterday to get four rolls of stamps. Rolls of stamps have always, ever since 8th grade, reminded me of what a selfish jerk Thaddeus Flesch is (he says, grinning good-naturedly). We were walking into the M Company dorm when he spied a roll of stamps on the ground.

Stamps are to cadets as cigarettes are to prison inmates. And Flesch just found, like, 100 or whatever comes in a roll.

Do you know how many he shared with me? None, that’s how many. And I think of that every time I even hear the term “roll of stamps.”

I think he even gave some to Forbes-Watkins which was like twisting the knife. Jerk.