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Ellen Spitler: "Don't ever stop asking us..."

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Ellen Spitler: "Don't ever stop asking us..."

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My first year of teaching I was hanging out with 9th graders other teachers described with anger and frustration. I was their 3rd teacher by January of that school year and I had little clue about what I was doing; I had just finished student teaching the semester before. Then there was a shooting in South Tucson...a 14-year-old boy walking home from school. I cried and I decided I needed to ask my 14-year-old students to explain the world to me. They wrote and they shared, their voices honest and raw. In the back of the classroom, his shoulders quaked, his eyes filled with tears that dripped down his face and his voice shook. "Don't ever stop asking us, Miss. Never."

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One of my favorite pictures of my mom & I (2005)

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Megan Bridston: "All I have ever wanted was to give you guys what I never had."

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Megan Bridston: "All I have ever wanted was to give you guys what I never had."

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I dedicate our learning today to my mom. My mom grew up in a split family with one sister and two step brothers. She basically had to take care of and raise her mom who struggled with Bipolar disorder during the 60s during which electric shock therapy was still a practice and mental illness was quite misunderstood. Her dad was extremely hard on her with high expectations and sometimes even physically and emotionally abusing her. She only got $100 to go to college from her parents, but persisted, working every weekend and anytime she wasn't in school to get a degree. She had to work hard in school as it was never easy for her and took a lot of effort. She has now been a veterinarian for around 30 years and is the most independent, strong-willed woman I know. I look up to her in so many ways and she inspires me day-in and day-out to keep going with life.

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Peter Jenks in his happy place:  Bushmills Brewery, Ireland.

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I am dedicating today's learning to my dad. He grew up all over the world, being a Navy brat. He was a prankster from the word go and I have all the stories memorized. He grew up in a time when ADHD was not well known and rarely diagnosed, so he always struggled with learning. He was incredibly smart, but it took a while to learn how to manage his undiagnosed ADHD. He went to many colleges, I think 4 or 5, including the Naval Academy, FIT, and DU, to try and find out what he wanted to do with his life. He tried oceanic engineering, semi-truck driving, and even became a lawyer before settling on a tutor. He wanted to help students who struggled like he did. He was my personal tutor growing up, as he knew how I learned best. Everything I do is to honor his memory and he has inspired me to follow in his footsteps of teaching.

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(I picked this photo because my parents are coming up on their 25th wedding anniversary!) 

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I would like to dedicate our learning to my Dad today. My Dad grew up here in the Five Points area of Denver when crime was high. Much of his immediate family, including his father, were heavily involved with drugs and gang activity that resulted in my grandfather being arrested when my Dad was 15, forcing him to become the main breadwinner of his household. With this pressure to support his family, and then later becoming a teen parent after having my half-sister, he dropped out of high school. Eventually got his GED with the help of my mother and supported us by working two jobs until he was promoted in 2008. From there he worked his way up and is now working as a Business Systems Analyst for Nestle. To this day, he always reminds himself of where he came from, and although education was not something viable at the time for him, he made sure to instill the importance of it into my sister and me, as well as taught me just how equally important life experiences are in finding your way.

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This is my uncle Ramon and my two cousins Alex and Ivan. My family all lives in Juarez, Chih. And I lived there as a child as well. My family is big with my mom having 8 siblings and my grandparents owning their own business. Every time I visit it makes me incredibly happy to be around the people I love, especially since we are the only ones in Colorado. I love my city and I love being around my family, but unfortunately the reputation of Juarez is not the best due to the violence. My uncle owned a very successful business in Juarez, in which my aunt, his wife, and my two cousins worked. They would always find a way to help the family and made sure everyone had what they wanted. They helped my mother out so much after my parents’ divorce to make sure my mom’s bills were paid. Unfortunately, in August of 2009, their business was targeted by a local cartel and they were all killed. Losing three people in the family at once greatly impacted us all, and still does to this day. We are now paying it back to them by taking in Alex’s son, who has been living with us for about a month now. Their memory will forever live through him and all of us.

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My daily dedication is to my weirdly thoughtful nephew, Christen. He's a great kid, your typical teenager but works hard to meet his goals. We're about nine years apart, and I've been one of his guardians since I was a child myself.
My sister was a teen mom who escaped a horrific abusive relationship. However, due to our cultural norms, she faced a lot of scrutinies Chris, in a way, had to deal with that as well. Our family dynamic also relied on older kids to take care of the younger ones so the adults could work. So technically, I had to grow up the day he was born and struggled with the lack of childhood I had. I was angry at my parents, my siblings, and him for a long time and had a lot of complicated feelings. I describe my family's approach to intimacy like "Hedgehog Delima." It represents a situation in which a group of hedgehogs seeks to move close to one another to share heat during cold weather. However, they must remain apart as they cannot avoid hurting one another with their sharp spines. Though they all share the intention of a close relationship, they are scared of being hurt or hurting another.
Eventually, I realized it was just him and me. In a way, he was my little brother, and we were in the same boat of unstable family dynamics. So we step by step built a healthy sibling bond and motivated each other to move forward.

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My Dad has always played the guitar. We joke that it's not a party until my dad pulls out his guitar and we all start jamming out :)

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My Dedication goes out to my Dad. He is my hero. He has overcome a lot in his life and he always seems to have a positive outlook on life no matter what. My dad grew up in a home with 5 siblings and just his mom to take care of all of them. His dad wasn't in the picture, so my dad learned to take care of himself very quickly. He worked his way through college bussing tables. I've always looked up to my dad, he is the kind of person that loves people really well. He is always talking to strangers, anywhere, on hikes, in the grocery store line. My dad has always worked in hotels. I remember as a kid walking around the hotel with him and he would say hi to every staff member he passed, I mean every single one. He knew them all by name, from the housekeepers to the chefs to the groundskeepers, he had built meaningful friendships and relationships with all of them.

During the pandemic, my dad lost his job in hotel sales and there was no real timeline for when he would return. Instead of letting himself be discouraged, he got a job stocking groceries and driving people to their medical appointments. He always put his family first and sacrificed in order to provide. It was inspiring to watch my dad use the year without his job to make the most of what he had with the abilities he had. I never once heard him complain, and he thanked God for what he did have. My dad is a man of huge faith and he inspires me to look beyond myself in order to meet the needs of others.

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My dedication is to my children. Chardena, Ezekiel, Zoe, Zephaniah. Mom's always want to brag about their children, and they are the reason I am back in school.
These are my kids' senior pictures
Chardena: I met my oldest daughter when she was almost 2 years old. I became her mom when she was 3 1/2. She was born deaf, and because of her, I have a degree in Sign Language Interpreting. She is the most confident woman I have ever met. She now is 31 and works at Amazon as a delivery driver.
Ezekiel: Zeke came into this world 3 months before he was suppose to. He weighed 1 lb 7 oz. He stayed the remainder of those 3 months in the hospital. He will be graduating on Dec 17th from MSU with a degree in Civil Engineering Technology. He is now 23.
Zoe:  Zoe was diagnosed with ADD when she was in 4th grade. School was never her favorite thing! She moved this summer to Ohio, and will be getting married in Jan. She is 21.
Zephaniah: Zeph is 17. He will be graduating this spring from Brighton High School. I think he wants to go to college, but he doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up!

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A very motivational story, thank you for sharing it.

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A very motivational story, thank you for sharing it.

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He sounds like an amazing person :) He's definitely incredibly lucky to have you in his life!

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If you ever met my friend at their lowest you would never know it. I met them playing in a pool league where we would go every Thursday night. Always smiling and quick to cheer you up considering their past and what they had been through. I found out that they needed a place to stay and having newly bought a house I figured it would be a great fit. Little did I know my friend was homeless, carless, and was hanging by a thread at their job. The impact you can have on someone with such simple gestures cannot be overestimated. After someone finally gave them a chance they changed their life around and they have their own home now.

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My grandfather and I a few days ago at Guanella Pass. Talk about a cultural iceberg-- it was cold as eff.

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My grandfather is the most other-oriented person I know. I believe that a selfless, charitiable philosophy is a sacred one. His career is centered around restoring the Rocky Flats Manufacturing and Processing Plant into a wild life refuge. He cared for his wife as she succumbed to various ailments and sicknesses in the last decade until her death last holiday season. He tends to members of the church he is in and aids the Boy Scout troops associated with them as well. He served a mission for that same church in Austria for two years pausing his work in the study of geology. He has helped all of his children and grandchildren accomplish whatever it is they have needed help with, school projects, car troubles, loan payments, etc. at a moment's notice. He is nothing but kind and helpful to all that he knows and he has been a terrific inspiration to me in my work to become a helper and a repairer of the world.

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I am lucky have two great friends in my life. This is Jon and Nadine. They inspire me. Jon and I have been friends since I was in junior high school. When Jon married Nadine I became doubly blessed to have her as a friend.
They both would drop everything they are doing to help if I needed. They inspire me to be a better friend. Their friendship with me, is about care, love, and unselfish motivation and actions. They truly want the best for me. They want to know what is happening in my life; not to judge, but to be part of it or be there if I need help. They are both accomplished in the lives, but these accomplishments pale in comparison to the size of their hearts. Their lives a full from the relationships they have built. It is my hope that I can be as good of a friend to them as they are to me.

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In the spirit of Dia de los Muertos, I’ve chosen my AVID teacher Mrs. Szentkiralyi. I met her my junior year of high school, and she was the first teacher to really challenge me on a personal level. She also challenged our idea of what college meant to us. Mrs. S gave us permission to not choose a 4 year college because she understood college was not suited for everyone. Growing up, going to college was just the next thing I would do. It was no different than if I was going to go to high school. It was simply the next step for me. Mrs. S allowed me to view going to college as a conscious choice and that I would have to put the effort to make it there. When I graduated high school I made sure to visit at least once every time I was home. I had looked forwards to telling her I had graduated because I wanted to, but unfortunately she passed in 2018 of cancer at the end of my sophomore year. Mrs. S challenged my perspective on school and told me my effort wasn’t good enough, and she was right. She pushed me to try harder.

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My wife and best friend, Jenna is much more than that. She is probably the kindest person I know, sometimes to a fault. Jenna works very hard as a marriage and family therapist, but that is not the point. After a long day of listening to peoples' problems she has to deal with my BS...and I have plenty of it !
Jenna is one of the strongest people I know. She was diagnosed with type1 diabetes when she was eleven months. If you know the disease, you understand that  living with it for 45 years is not for granted.
After college, which included some semesters abroad in Europe Jenna joined the Peace Core. She spent 2 years helping HIV patients in Jamaica, as well as educating the locals on safe sex.
When I met Jenna it was fate. She has been saving my life almost every day since,  and as I thank God every day for granting me this gift I pray that this strong, brave and kind person will continue to be my better half and that we grow old together.

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Your family is strong, clearly! Amazing hearts, I have no doubt. I am so terribly sorry for your loss and hope you have peace.

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He sounds absolutely amazing and I hope you share this dedication with him, too!

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Brianna,

I am sorry for your loss. I hope that you do always remember that the love and care that you experienced with your Tío all others that have passed will continue to be with you always.

Take care.

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Sammie Jo,

Your tears today were no sign of weakness. I am so glad that you expressed in a sincere and deep way, your love for your father. I am certain that he is very proud of the kind and communicative person you are and I’m sure he’s proud that he can see the parts you appreciate about him live on through you.

Take care

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My children have truly changed my life. They have taught me patience, kindness, caring, listening, and so much more. They have turned my wife and I's house into a home. They have taught me the importance of education and community. They are the reason I want to be a teacher. They remind me to never stop learning and trying your hardest. They inspire me.