Three days ago, I invited you to share stories of people who inspire you—and promised that the responses would be worth reading. They definitely were. So I want to share one of them today. The story below comes from Jason Patera, who heads The Chicago Academy of the Arts. I publish it here with his permission. If you want to support my work, please take out a premium subscription (for just $6 per month).Three Big LiesBy Jason Patera The day after my 16th birthday, I told three big lies that changed the course of my life. It was 1992, and I worked at this giant musical instrument store just outside Chicago owned by two brothers and their father. I mostly carried boxes, tuned guitars and set up drums, and tried to act cool when girls or rockstars came in the store.
I did what every kid with a cool mom in my neighborhood did the day after their 16th birthday: I walked into work brandishing my new driver's license as proof that I was now an adult, and emboldened with my newfound sense of independence, I quickly told three lies to my music-store bosses.
An hour later I was pulling up to the doors of 1010 W. Chicago Avenue — a massive old building that they told me was a weird “arts high school.” My job was to deliver and haul up the stairs a truckload of equipment that Oprah Winfrey had just donated.
Walking in, I couldn’t believe that this was a high school. My school was surrounded by police cars and barbed wire (and it was never entirely clear if both were there to keep people out, or in.) At this bizarre place, though, there was this amazing artwork everywhere. There was a jazz jam session happening right there in the lobby. Some kids were rehearsing Shakespeare in the stairwell. Every railing had a ballerina draped over it; every floor was a stage; every wall seemed to be part of a gallery. They had even turned a hallway into a theater.
The weirdest thing, though, was that everyone looked so… alive. It was already 4:00 in the afternoon, long past when my school got out, but these kids looked like they were just getting started. They greeted me — a total stranger — with this odd enthusiasm, as if they enjoyed being at school, and didn’t mind at all if a weirdo like me was hanging out. I never left. I immediately started leaving my own school early (or not going at all) and driving to this place instead. It never occurred to me to apply to officially attend. I didn’t know anyone who went to a private school. I’m not entirely sure I even really knew what one was. One of the people who seemed to be in charge, Pamela Jordan, pretended to see something in me, and decided to put me to work as something of an intern, a “job” that lasted for the next several years.
I set up the sound system, made copies, and crawled around the attic, laying cable for the theater’s new lighting system. I played in a bunch of shows, too: drums, mostly, for musicals that my own school would never do. Sometimes, Pam had me sit in with the jazz band, and later I got to help set up a little recording studio and assist students with their projects. One day, when I was 19, she even let me sub for a class and I taught a mini lesson in the history of rock music. Soon after, Pam sat me down and said, “what are you doing with your life?” That was easy: I was going to be a rockstar. Pam had other ideas. “You’re a teacher,” she said. I felt movement in my soul. “You’re going to college, and you’re going to get your degree. And when you’re done, you’re going to come back here and teach in our school.” That’s exactly what happened. I graduated from Berklee College of Music on Friday, the 14th of August, 1998. Three days later I was in front of a classroom filled with that same gear I had delivered to that massive old building a few years prior. At The Chicago Academy for the Arts, I’ve been an intern, a classroom teacher, a department head, the Assistant Head, and for the last decade or so, the Head of School. It’s the only place I’ve ever worked since I lied to my bosses at that music store more than three decades ago. During that time, Pam has been my mentor, my coach, my confidante, my teacher, my family, and my friend. And when I got married last summer, Pam officiated. I think of Pam every single day, because if I didn’t, I would never let someone who reminded me of me in our school. But those kids, they’re the ones who need me and my teachers the most. I know that I can never pay Pam back for what she did for me, but I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life paying it forward.
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"I Told Three Big Lies That Changed My Life"
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