Four grueling years.

Our son, Jared, was Second Team All-District in baseball at one of the most storied high school baseball programs in the country. His baseball accomplishments as a left-handed pitcher from 2004-08 earned him college Division I baseball scholarship offers. The best of those offers took him to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. However, during fall baseball practice before his freshman season, Jared injured his non-pitching shoulder. After surgery, Jared redshirted from sports for a year, but refused to slow down his degree progress. After the frustration of sitting out a year, Jared was more than ready for the now delayed start to his college baseball career. However, during spring baseball practice his sophomore year, while swinging at a 3-2 breaking pitch, Jared felt something that was “just not right”– this time in his pitching shoulder. After consultation with the Houston Texans’ team surgeon, it was determined that Jared needed potentially career ending surgery. Even though that spring was clouded by the uncertainty of whether he would ever throw a baseball competitively again, and filled with painful, grueling physical therapy, Jared did not let it slow down his degree progress. The start of his junior year brought the realization that his baseball playing days were over. Fortunately, Jared took to heart our advice that while he followed his dream of playing professional baseball, he prepare himself for a non-athletic career in case the unimaginable happened. Jared decided that if he could not play baseball, he would teach young men how to play the game he loved. He finished out his last two years of college, completed the requirements for his B.S. degree in Mathematics and obtained his teaching certificate. On May 12th of this year, despite two shoulder surgeries on two different shoulders and two bouts of painful physical therapy in two years, Jared graduated on time from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. On May 14th, he interviewed for a teaching and coaching position at an underperforming high school right back here in the Houston Independent School District. He was hired later that day. Two weeks later, Jared– fresh out of college– was one of two teachers selected to write the course curriculum that would be used at EVERY H.I.S.D. high school in pre-calculus this school year. Why Jared, and why right out of college? Because the principal of the high school at which Jared completed his student teaching “saw something” in him.

I worried that being exposed to the administrative side of teaching before getting in front of a classroom would dampen his enthusiasm. I was wrong. On August 11th, I saw the following status on Jared’s facebook page: “There's not a better feeling in the world than being a positive influence on a child/young adult's life. Excited for another week of work where I can do so.”

August 24th brought Jared one last surprise. On Friday morning, Jared was told by his principal that the Superintendent of Houston Independent School District and five news video crews would be visiting his classroom on the first day of classes. Today. Jared’s reaction? He worked at the school for 12 hours on Saturday and 8 hours yesterday preparing his room so that everything would be “just so.” Why did they pick Jared’s classroom? Because he is a proud home grown product of H.I.S.D., coming back to the district to help the next generation. Four years ago this month, we left Jared in Corpus Christi a scared kid who wanted to play baseball, and today, he begins his life and career as a teaching professional. I couldn’t be more proud of him.