June 23, 2005

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Scenes from a teen rite of passage

Pioneer Graduation

The Rose Garden was the scene of the Pioneer High School class of 2005 graduation Tuesday, June 14 and amidst blue skies where nearly 300 students officially became high school graduates. Photos by Ron Reed.

Justin Reinhart, Robbie Steinberg, David Grometer, Josh Lichtenstein, Greg Karis, and Cyndy Gutierrez get happy for the camera after the graduation.

Ben Cooper, speaker at the graduation addresses the crowd.	David Grometer, the 2005 salutatorian addresses the crowd.

Leland Graduation

Partly cloudy skies couldn't obscure the joy of the 397 Leland High School graduates and their proud parents and teachers at the Rose Garden on Wednesday, June 15. Photos by Mike Janes.

Speakers Shahid Syed	Elaine Kuo

Principal Bob Setterlund	Vice Principal of Instruction Cliff Mitchell

Making a difference one child at a time

Retiring Pioneer teacher plans to return to Ethiopia 40 years after serving in Peace Corps

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Gary Wilson was once asked by Pioneer High School journalism students where he saw himself in five years. He responded that he saw himself in Ethiopia—a dream that is now about to come true.

Gary Wilson at Pioneer High School. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

Seven years ago, Wilson began teaching special education classes at Pioneer. Two years ago, a minor stroke caused the 66-year-old to question what would make him happy the rest of his life. He had always desired to return to Ethiopia, Africa where he had served in the Peace Corps more than 40 years ago. And his dream of beginning a school and orphanage for the world’s neediest children began on that first trip. The continuing medical crisis created the urgency to fulfill the aspiration.

“When I first came to Pioneer High School, Gary told me that one day he would return to Ethiopia and that he had left a big part of his heart there with the children he had worked with,” said Principal Barbara Lepiane. “He always speaks of the children and the country with great affection and I know he plans to live the rest of his life helping those children. He is a man of great compassion and I will miss his warmth and sense of humor. The people and the country of Ethiopia are very fortunate to get Gary Wilson.”

Peace Corp in the 60s
In 1962 Wilson graduated from San Jose State University with his teaching credential. The San Jose native wanted to see life in another place, a non-industrial country with a completely different culture. Africa fascinated the young man. He joined the newly formed Peace Corps and became the first group of 300 to be sent to Ethiopia. His family was not pleased with his choice of a two-year commitment in one of the oldest countries in the world, but Wilson went anyway.

In the nation’s capital, Addis Ababa, he taught high school math and found the experience intensely different from the United States. The children wanted to learn, but only so many were allowed in the school. The others were beat off with clubs and sticks.

Other scenes haunted Wilson—a mother dying, lying in front of the post office while nursing one of her two children, begging for someone to adopt them. In a taxi ride after a visit to the large outdoor market, he threw out an apple core. An Ethiopian quickly picked it up and proceeded to eat the remains. The country was poor and their people hungry. After this experience, Wilson’s value system radically changed.

“These people are destitute but they’re happy,” said Wilson. “They have a different reality of happiness. Not that they wouldn’t like more but they have a peace in life that we in our culture don’t find because we are always hurrying to get someplace else.”

Wilson lived in a three-room adobe home with tile floors, which was a palace compared to the lives of the poor who begged for food and lived on the streets. He had cold running water in the bathroom and outside in the small back yard, he boiled water to purify it and then filtered it to drink and cook with. Electricity amounted to a single bulb in each room. He hired a housekeeper, who for $12 a month, cooked and cleaned and in return he offered her a place to live and eat.

Wilson bonds with homeless Ethiopian boy
Wilson vividly remembers his students who were bright and eager to learn. They realized how important an education was to better their existence. Darge was one of his students. He was quiet, as they all were. Authority figures were not questioned and one was thought to be stupid to ask a question. Wilson inquired about Darge through his classmates and discovered he had no family, no place to live and was often hungry. He foraged for himself and performed endless chores for a local family in exchange for food and board. But most of the time he did not have enough food to eat and the family only allowed him to attend school sporadically.

Wilson asked Darge, who was probably around 16 (many children do not know their correct ages—time is calculated by “you were born during the big flood”), if he would help him learn the native language, Amharic, and to learn the cultural differences of the country. Darge said yes, but only felt comfortable staying on the dirt floor in the servant’s quarters in back of the main house. A close friendship developed between the young American and the teenage Ethiopian who had seen such tremendous hopelessness in his life.

Wilson’s two-year stay was coming to an end and he did not want to leave the country and people he had come to love. He told his fellow Peace Corp members, “I’m not going back,” but they took his passport and gave it to the crew on the plane who were told to return it only when they were airborne. Wilson vowed one day to return to help the children of Ethiopia.

Back in the states
Returning to the states Wilson taught math at a middle school in Castro Valley. He befriended the only Ethiopian family whose child attended the school. It was the 1960s and they were referred to as Negroes and treated as second-class citizens. Tragedy struck when the families’ home was burned to the ground in a cruel act of arson.
Disillusioned, Wilson resigned from the teaching assignment shortly thereafter.

Wilson was still in contact with some of his students in Ethiopia. Darge attended his senior year of high school when his teacher left. The government offered continued education if the students returned to become instructors. Darge studied in Vancouver, Canada and returned to Ethiopia to fulfill his promise to the government. Through the years, government unrest and famines ended all correspondence with Wilson’s students. Contact with an American could bring an arrest, prison or worse. Unfortunately, the photographs Wilson took of his time in the Peace Corps were lost through the passage of time. All he had left were memories of Ethiopia and the desire to return.

“When the times were right for me, there were anti-American feelings from the current government regime,” said Wilson tearfully remembering the friends lost through the years. “Or there were famines and the last thing the country needed was another mouth to feed.”

Ethiopia has a population of over 75 million. It is slightly smaller than twice the size of Texas. There is a high mortality rate due to AIDS, famine, refugees and food and waterborne diseases. The economy is based on agriculture (80 percent), which suffers from frequent droughts and poor cultivation practices. Coffee is the chief export.

Wilson works as traveling interim pastor for 25 years
Wilson studied theology and began working as a pastor in churches throughout California, Washington, Oregon and even Anchorage, Alaska for the next 25 years. He never stopped thinking of returning to Ethiopia to help the children and find the friends he had lost contact with. His mother’s deteriorating health brought him back to the Bay Area to help his sister. That led to his special education position at Pioneer.

Two years ago, Wilson suffered a minor stroke but also, serendipitously, experienced a “light-bulb” moment.

“I feel I had the stroke because I had given up,” said Wilson. “Medical research connects strokes to deep prolonged sadness. It is the body’s way of attempting suicide. It was then that I knew I had to go back to Ethiopia to be happy.”

Plans for the future
And happy Wilson is. He has been in contact with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education and Health to see what facilities are available for a school and orphanage. He will contact the Clinton Foundation for assistance. He is making plans for a two-week visit to Ethiopia this summer to make permanent arrangements for his move. Wilson has calculated his retirement income, which he figures will bring a 7-1 return rate at today’s exchange. And, he has decided that if he has to arrange to build the school and orphanage by himself, he is willing to do that.

Wilson envisions a school and orphanage where the children are educated, fed and safe “in a non-institutional” facility with like-minded people who have the same dream.

He especially wants to help the girls who suffer female mutilation before puberty, many who are forced into prostitution to survive. He envisions a safe haven for children going on through perpetuity. He hopes to find his students from 40 years ago, but sadly realizes they may be dead.

“Lots of people talk a good game about changing the world and making a difference,” said Pioneer drama teacher and colleague Steve Dini. “Gary Wilson is putting his money where his heart is and actually doing it. To me, that’s astonishing love in action.”

Wilson recently shared his retirement plans with his special education students. He showed them a video of Ethiopia to let them know he is not giving up teaching, he is simply going to teach somewhere else where his skills are needed more. His students say he’s awesome.

In response, Wilson says he has a hard time with the concept of being considered noble. “This is the most selfish thing I’m doing in my life,” says Wilson. “It is pure greed. I want this to be happy. And that’s selfish. I don’t mean I haven’t been happy. This move is not motivated by doing something good or altruistic. I know it’s what I’m supposed to do with the rest of my life. The children are the most important things that exist in the world.”

Gary Wilson can be reached at (408) 535-6310.

“The Enders,” a band composed entirely of fifth graders—Steven Garcea on the electric guitar, Elizabeth Segar on the piano and Raydon Orcine on the drums—performed at the barbecue. “The Enders” named themselves because they perform at the end of the year, but also after Steven’s third grade teacher by the name of Miss Enders, who is still at Williams but is now married and named Mrs. Leyshock.

Former parent Tracey Cressio coordinated a special original performance for the parents. This year, the fifth graders sang “We are the world.”

Williams’ annual end-of-school-year BBQ

A wonderful family event capped off a successful school year as students, teachers, administration and parents attended Williams Elementary’s annual end-of-school-year barbeque on Friday, June 10. Sitting out on the Williams playground, with the beautiful hills of Quicksilver Park as a backdrop, everyone enjoyed a delicious barbeque, music and a talent show put on by Williams’ students.

The talent show included a band, dancing, musical instruments, skits, singing and a karate demonstration. One of the performers was Nicky Sisto, a 7-year-old first grader, who sang “House at Pooh Corner” with his father accompanying him on guitar. Parents and children alike enjoyed this old Kenny Loggins’ favorite.

When the talent show ended, perhaps the most entertaining moment of the evening happened as children filled the stage and began dancing and singing to music ranging from old rock and roll to hip hop. As parents looked on, they listened to their favorite music of all—the giggles and laughter of their children echoing through the beautiful hills of Almaden Valley.