1. Her show choir clinic performances could have been on Broadway, after four years as a Bulldog she went to work with FOCUS to SEEK until she came to Chicago last year
2. The man, the myth, the legend of Camp Tecumseh, his years as a counselor and Ultimate Frisbee enthusiast will live in infamy much like his collegiate football coaching career
3. She retired early after adding her joy to the Blazer girls of the OT but continues to make the world a better place by helping run Orientation and Special Olympics at her school in PA
4. Heads and shoulders above the rest, literally and figuratively, he had a robot arm one summer and spent another putting around with Kraft, now he's still taking the initiative to be a Torchbearer for Tecumseh by leading alumni
5. Her counseling resume includes camp experiences across the country, but she now calls Tecumseh her year-round home, her sister is her best friend and they share a mutual obsession for everything IUDM
6. She's got three important rings-- one from when she said "I do" at the Kettlehut chapel, two from National Cheerleading Championships
7. Great Danes, Diet Coke and extra long tanks are part of her brand, her dance moves are contagious as well as her enthusiasm, Blazer girls and counselors all want to call her one of their best friends because she's so O'Awesome
8. She came to Tecumseh as a counselor and ended up staying for life in a house down by the River, her kid and her students think she's hilarious, she spent a summer teaching in China but IU will always be her school of choice
9. Resume of awesome: President, Yeast Free (because Gluten wasn't enough), EPIC career, Chipotle's biggest fan and most frequent visitor, the creator of #TecumsehTuesday as well as her less famous but equally amazing #SisterSunday posts
10. His dance moves are unrivaled... as are his facial expressions while he sings Little Cabin In The Woods, he and his Tecumseh alumni wife would make quite the dynamic duo on the Amazing Race
This morning I saw the secretary of our school post that one of our fav 8th graders brought her coffee. I replied and asked how I could get this kid to be my barista. Minutes later there was a knock on my door. An office aid came to drop off a latte. I sent back a friendship bracelet to express my gratitude.
Words I'm loving right now:
"Everything is relative. Before 2013, the longest bike ride I had ever done was from LA to San Diego. I thought it was insanely far. Now, thousands of miles later and the trip of a lifetime behind me... it feels like nothing. Everything is relative.
I remember growing up with a $10 weekly allowance, and one of my best friends got $250 a month, about $60 a week. I thought he was the richest kid in the world. He would buy CD's like it was no big deal. He had binders of them. Not burned ones. Real ones.
He lived in a big three story house with nice things. His mom drove a Lexus and his dad drove a Cadillac. I was amazed by their life. His dad was a contractor for the rich and famous of Nashville. He would build their giant barns and boat houses. I remember his dad lamenting one night at dinner, "You know it's hard, working every day surrounded by wealth and knowing I will never have that. These people have planes. It's hard. Sometimes it makes me frustrated at God."
I remember learning a lesson that day. This man, whom I believed to be so rich, felt poor. He worked in a world of opulence, that was his normal, and he felt left out. He felt like a waiter at a cocktail party.
You know those moments of childhood, the ones that land in your brain like a brick falling from the sky. Those moments of teaching. I can hear him say those things like it was yesterday. You'll never be rich enough, or bike far enough, if you think the value of achievement is having rather than being."
-Jedidiah Jenkins
Go follow him on Instagram @jedidiahjenkins
Alumni Answers
1. Michelle Lippoli
2. Beef
3. Annie Fazzio
4. Evan Frick
5. Molly Brunner
6. Natalie Finney
7. Erin O'Farrell
8. Mel Lang
9. Sarah Mooney
10. Alex Allison
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