*This afternoon I attended the service of another high school teacher who recently passed away. Mary Jean Hinkemeyer was the P.E. teacher at Kellogg High School while I was in high school. I worked most closely with her as the Pep Club Advisor when I was the Pep Club President my senior year at KHS. She was also the Varsity Volleyball Coach when I played J.V. Volleyball. (I didn’t make the cut for Varsity my senior year). She also was the girl’s Track Coach, but after doing track my freshman year at Kellogg Junior High School, that was quite enough track for me. The service was a wonderful tribute to “Mrs. H”. The service ended with all the KHS grads and teachers in the audience standing and singing the “Alma Mater”. If you are on Instagram, search #ksdpride, and on the kelloggschools Instagram page is a short video of the Alma Mater being sung. It was pretty cool!!
*One of my revelations about Mrs. H was watching a show on the Spokane Public Television station soon after I moved back to Kellogg. Mrs. H was one of the people they were talking to, and it was about how instrumental she was in making sure Title IX was followed through in the high schools in North Idaho, making it possible for organized varsity girl sports in this area.
Title IX was the first comprehensive federal law to prohibit sex discrimination against students and employees of educational institutions. Title IX benefits both males and females, and is at the heart of efforts to create gender equitable schools. The law requires educational institutions to maintain policies, practices and programs that do not discriminate against anyone based on sex. Under this law, males and females are expected to receive fair and equal treatment in all arenas of public schooling: recruitment, admissions, educational programs and activities, course offerings and access, counseling, financial aid, employment assistance, facilities and housing, health and insurance benefits, marital and parental status, scholarships, sexual harassment, and athletics.
*It was a revelation, realizing that girl’s sports at Kellogg High School was something rather new, and had only been around for a few years once I started high school. And Mrs. H was a big part of why these sports teams existed. Girls in the late seventies and early eighties were actually pioneers in organized varsity sports in this area.
*Another part of the service that was a unexpected treat was running into Debbie Alexander and her husband Kim. Kim was the pastor who performed the funeral service. Debbie and Kim’s daughter Meghan Mitchell is married to Lori Hinkemeyer Mitchell’s son Tyler. Lori is Mrs. H’s daughter. It was fun seeing Debbie in person, instead of just on “social media”, and catching up with how their family is doing. She is such a delightful person, and I always enjoy visiting with her....plus we are “birthday buddies”....we share the same birthday!
*I went downstairs to teach classes, and Paul finished preparations for hosting the cast party of the play his students performed at Kellogg High School recently. At one point, in between classes, the seven students came down in the basement and Paul was giving them a tour, and they were all super quiet as I was getting ready to start my next class. Paul had a great time hosting the party, and by the time I was done teaching and prepping for the next day’s classes, they were gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment