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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.