“TEACHING KIDS, ANSWERING QUESTIONS, ENGAGING IN DISCUSSIONS, SOMETHING CLICKED. I THOUGHT, ‘THIS IS IT, I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!’”
After scouting Chico for teaching positions, Michael and his then-wife moved to the Bay Area where he built his resume substitute-teaching and learning on the job in schools from Los Gatos to San Jose, Saratoga to Sacramento. Each opportunity only reinforced what the universe was telling him, and he enrolled at SFSU to earn his teaching creden- tials. He landed a job at Garfield Charter School in Redwood City, and such was his dedication, he spent those early years mining public libraries to cull discarded books for his classroom library and calling companies like Oracle for pen and paper donations to stock his classroom. While living in Redwood City, the seeds of his future connection to Cathedral germinated when he befriended a neighbor whose wife was the sister
of former CSB headmaster Michael Ferreboeuf. Cathedral was hiring, and while Michael knew nothing about private schools in the city—let alone anything about the Cathedral School for Boys—he took a chance, interviewed, and was hired the next day to teach 5th grade. “Looking back, all those jobs—from working in the garbage yard to waiting tables to hustling for whatever—made me a better teacher,” he reflects. “They helped me with my perspective of life, and how to connect with different people.” The learning continues: As part of the honor of the Chair, Michael received a one-time stipend to his salary, which he used to purchase a scooter to get himself to school, and a professional development stipend. But with no oppor- tunities to be had during the pandemic,
Michael plans to attend the Wildwood Diversity Workshops next summer in Los Angeles. “I’m always looking for ways to find those lenses and perspectives that I do not see, ways to incorporate that into the curriculum and engage kids,” he says. “I reinvent my curriculum every year, so I hope to keep making it richer.” continues to grow. “I can’t express my gratitude to the School for what they’ve done for me as a person and a profes- sional,” he says. “The support, kindness, love, caring, and growth they’ve provided, there are no words to adequately express how grateful I am for ending up in this place.” As he prepares for his 18th year at Cathedral, Michael’s passion for connection and relationships only
12 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
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