Brad Besse

“My Why”

It was a day way back in the fall of 1984, when I walked into my third grade class expecting Miss Adele to meet us at the door. I knew from kindergarten who all my teachers were going to be through eighth grade! I was in a small parochial school where teachers never were supposed to leave! To my surprise, a new teacher was standing in the doorway, Miss Cunningham! She was loud, boisterous, thrilled to see us, and made everyone feel welcome. She acted as if she was always there and welcomed us as if she already knew us.

I am the oldest of twelve siblings and have always been very comfortable around younger children and loved being around them. I had incredible teachers growing up, Miss Cunningham being my absolute favorite! She loved her students and made sure we all knew it. She made learning fun and it was obvious how much she enjoyed teaching. Therefore, I began to think that I love kids, and now I love school so maybe teaching is what I want to do!

My hometown was a rural farm town with no diversity. All the children in town were white, middle class, like Stepford. It was not until high school when I got my first exposure to people of other cultures and races. I found it so interesting and loved learning about them. It made me realize that every person deserves the same opportunity as everyone else. I wanted to be a part of making sure that happened.

I decided that I wanted to work in an area with plenty of diversity and to give back to the community that I had chosen to become a part of in St. Louis City. I loved the kids immediately and knew that this is where I wanted to be. Students in the city are so deserving, but so underserved compared to their counterparts in private and county schools. I have been in three different schools in the city, the thing that never changes are the students.

So many things shape us as a person, but I believe it takes a special teacher or learning experience to make someone want to become a teacher. Both of my parents were teachers, I have siblings who are teachers, so it has been a part of my life from the very beginning. I am sure there are many other things I could have done to make a lot more money. Nevertheless, a teacher, way back when, showed me how much fun teaching and learning can be and that helped to shape me into the person I am today. Thank you Miss Cunningham for being the inspiration for one little boy way back when.