The most important person in my life in Cape Public Schools was Paul Jenkins, who was the guidance counselor at CHS. When I went to see him, at the end of my freshman year, to discuss my program for my sophomore year, he said, "Well, of course, you want the College Prep curriculum." Until that moment, I had never considered going to college. Neither of my parents had finished high school, so as far as I was concerned, finishing high school would have been a big deal. So, in a brief few minutes, he changed my life.
Up until then, no one in the school system had told me that there was the slightest possibility I might be even a wee bit intelligent. When I was older, I learned that some of the teachers at May Greene had said that those folk who thought that nothing good could come out of May Greene were going to find out otherwise, but I was never given a clue.
The second person I remember fondly is Ruby Davis who taught Speech and started the debate program at CHS. She realized that while I wrote "Standard English", I didn't speak it and she very sensitively and privately made me aware that I needed to change my speech patterns, before I went off to college, which I subsequently did.
The third person would be my first-grade teacher, Clara Mae Dickey, at May Greene. I loved her so much that I was horrified to have to leave her classroom.
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