by [daniel heady]
Most people who have an MBA from Harvard are not “It was the craziest year of my life,” Brewster said, “until teaching 18-year-olds about the checks and balances of the the next year.” government. However there is one Harvard grad that loves it. That year he taught fifth grade. Sam Brewster has been teaching at East for 28 years-before “There were too many little kids,” Brewster said. the challenger blew up, before the fall of the Berlin wall, and He began to second guess his new found profession. What before the fall of the twin towers. This year, Brewster will see he really wanted to do was teach high school. his final class graduate from East; but the road to where he is “I was thinking, what am I doing here?” now is a unique one, and it all begins with peanuts. Brewster and his wife took frequent trips down to the “It all started when I got kicked out of the Peace Corps,” Kansas City area to visit his in-laws. They found the area Brewster said. “They found out I had a deadly allergy to pea- enjoyable, and they decided to move down to Kansas City to nuts, and they wouldn’t let me go to Africa.” be closer to Marilyn’s family. They both interviewed for jobs, So Brewster became a “ski bum” in Aspen, Colorado for a Marilyn was an architect, and Brewster interviewed for his season, then he got a job in the field of Interfirst high school job at Shawnee Mission national Business. North. Thank you so very much for He lived in Mexico for a little less than After being offered a job on the this opportunity however a year, then he moved to South America spot, he was scheduled to be teaching spare I may be in responding. for two. But the seeds of teaching had business at North in 1979, but as fate There is, after all, not a great deal already been planted by the time he would have it, the government teachI can offer now except to express moved back to the U.S. er at East left to take an administrative my gratitude to those of you I have “When I was in Mexico I taught night job at a middle school the day before had the pleasure to work with, to school to the Mexicans, and I think that classes started. laugh, to share, and to move foris where I discovered that I wanted to be So Brewster got the call to come ward with. Perhaps a touch of a teacher,” Brewster said. and teach government at East, and he sentimentality in my own year of But he had is sights set on the field of has been here ever since. “graduation” may be forgiven, but business and enjoyed his job. “I got by that year by staying up for my money you have been the “I felt as if though I was a closet teachlate at night trying to stay a chapter class to remember, and I will miss er,” Brewster said. ahead of the students,” Brewster said. you. But he was actually a natural “BrewIn his early years at his new home ster has that natural ability to make at East, Brewster got involved with Don’t ever stop in the search for people feel personally connected and helping the students. He was the stuthe best that is within you, turn important, he really helps the students dent council sponsor when they were what fires your interest into your feel engaged,” Assistant Principal Ron in charge of holding the National Stulife’s work, and find others along Mersch said. dent Council Convention, and they the way to care for. You can’t In his early thirties, he got married convinced President Reagan to come miss. to his wife, Marilyn, and as he put it, he as a key note speaker. Always, Captain B “made a mistake in telling her” he want“We were sitting around thinking ed to teach. about who we could get to come as “She looked at me as if I had just disour keynote speaker and someone jokcovered something terribly important about ingly said the president,” Brewster said. myself,” Brewster said, “which I had.” “But then we ended up writing a letter and a few months later She encouraged him to go back to school and get a teach- we got a letter back saying he was going to be there.” ing degree. He did, and in 1976 he taught eighth grade EngThis moment, among others, was captured and is now lish in the suburbs of Chicago. hung on his infamous back wall.
SAM BREWSTER
Brewster leaves legacy at East
page 11 [features] “Its more of a collection of government memorabilia,” Brewster said. The wall is filled with everything whether it is a certificate of recognition from when he applied to be a teacher in space, or a picture of the social studies department on Halloween. But the thing that people will remember most is how Mr.. Brewster touched the lives of so many. “It’s like losing an older brother you look up to,” Fred Elliot, a government teacher said, “the school is losing a big asset and a great teacher.” Social Studies teacher Michael Chaffee said that “from a fraternal aspect, he is a good friend and has a great sense of humor and I’m really going to miss that.” “Brewster has an incredible intelligence and a sense of humility,” Mersch said. But Brewster doesn’t think he will be missed. “Other than our personable qualities we are all replaceable, and what we do here is more important than the people in it,” Brewster says, “The school is not supposed to miss me.” “Can you replace a person like that? The answer is no, it’s hard to replace the whole package,” Mersch said, “his value is irreplaceable.”
LARRYCOLBURN
by [molly tidrick]
Larry and Gini Colburn are high school sweethearts and have been married for 40 years. They love to travel in the summer and plan on doing more and also spend a lot of time with their children and grandchildren after they retire. Though they are working in the same building, they hardly ever see each other due to different floors they teach on and the different subjects they teach. To the married couple, it is neither an advantage nor disadvantage to work in the same building. “We say good-bye at the house in the morning just like any normal married couple would,” Larry said. Though they decided to retire the same year, their decisions were their own and it just happened to work out that they retire after this year. “We just came to the decision at the same time,” Larry said. He teaches biology and has taught at East for a total of 26 years and starting his first years of teaching during 1969-1979. He coached men’s gymnastics, which won the state title, and he received the coach of the year award and the L.R. Dad Perry award during the years of 1978 and
1979. “Everything they learned in gymnastics, I taught them,” he said. Gini is an English teacher and has taught for 10 years at East. She has always taught in the English department though she has taught communications for a couple years and a reading and writing class. Gini has also mainly taught high school students, with freshman being her favorite. “They are always up for anything and have lots of energy,” she said. And it is the students that she will miss the most. “I think that is what draws most teachers to teaching,” she said. Many memories were created while teaching here for both Gini and Larry. “You always remember the unusual things that if you aren’t a teacher you wouldn’t understand,” Gini said. The Colburns plan to keep in touch with many faculty friends and will also spend a lot of time with their friends outside of school.
May 14, 2007
GINI COLBURN
Colburns bow out together