The kids of Lewiston-Altura are alright
LEWISTON, Min. (WLAX/WEUX) – If you ever get the chance to speak to a group of students, do it. It will end up being as awkward and humbling as you expect… but it will also prove to be enlightening, reinvigorating and incredibly refreshing.
I was asked to speak to the Investigating Careers class at Lewiston-Altura High School by a friend of mine. Let me start right there. The remarkable stroke of genius it was to approach Luke Acord to teach shop and careers at the high school level, deserves to be commended. I do not know who it was that looked his resume up and thought to themselves, “He’s perfect,” but they were right. As Luke tells it, “They came to me and asked if I would be interested in teaching. I said, ‘I don’t have any of the certifications.’ And they said, ‘Don’t worry about that.’ And I said, ’I’m not exactly politically correct.’ And they said, ‘That’s ok.’ Well, I’m glad they asked and that I came to talk to them. I love it here. But I do have to admit,” as a wry smile washes across his face, “I’m not a normal shop teacher. I have all of my fingers.”
Mr. Acord is one of those types of men who can “do” anything. He seems to know exactly what every tool that has ever been invented does and how to make it “sing”. He is a blacksmith, a leather worker, a woodworker, a mechanic, and a plethora of other “trades” that become handy to have, at least a cursory, knowledge in. He builds chairs for people as presents. He has made ornate and detailed plague masks. He has made guitar straps, boxes, gear-hauling rigs, dwellings, storage items, cases, pouches, weapons, baubles, and everything else under the sun. If it can be made, especially by hand, Luke has a pretty darn good idea of how to make it.
That knowledge comes from a lifetime of, school learning, self-teaching and as many careers as there are stars in the sky. This mountain of a mountain man has done everything from watermelon farming to professional Santa Clausing. He’s worked as a maintenance man, a massage therapist, a plumber, an electrician, a security guard, a truck driver, a historical reenactor, a tour guide, and more than a few things I am either not aware of or have forgotten about.
Sounds like the perfect person to teach shop and careers to high school students, right?
Mr. Acord has had a few different people come and speak to his class of 12 freshmen. Representatives of the US military, tradespeople of various sorts, accountants, IT professionals, and, exactly, ONE Digital Content Producer. Believe me, it has been far simpler to describe what Luke Acord has done in his career than to explain what a Digital Content Producer does and I AM a Digital Content Producer. From what I can understand, or at least what the kids explained to me, is that my job is to talk to people, read things, and then share what I find out with the internet.
After they explained that to me, I still had 50 minutes left of their class hour to fill. I used that time to talk to them, read some things, and now I will tell you about it.
I asked them what careers they wanted when the class started and if those answers are the same now, over halfway through the class. I asked them what they had learned. I asked them who their favorite speakers had been and why. In order they said, and I quote, “I don’t know… sort of.” “That Mr. Acord has had a LOT of jobs.” “Not you because YOU ask too many questions.”
I’m kidding, of course. They said they have learned more about what they don’t want to do with their careers than what they actually want to do. Mr. Acord said “That’s the point. No one has to have it figured out at 14 or 15. It’s more important to think about what’s NOT it than it is to focus in on what you think is.”
I guess, with that defined, we can add Teaching to the things that Luke Acord can do pretty darn well.
If this group of freshmen is any indication of what kind of kids are in the Lewiston-Altura School District, the L-A constituents have absolutely nothing to worry about. These kids are bright and challenging and funny and everything you hope to find in a group of young kids trying to find their way. They have a shorthand between them that all teenagers seem to have, and they have inside jokes that make no sense (Camden Sigma for all my new L-A friends) and they have all the same superficial issues that teens have been facing for as long as teens have been roaming the earth. They also listen and care about things that affect them more than we give them credit for.
The Lewiston Altura School District had a referendum fail in November. That failure has brought the possibility of lost staff, building closures, and, if extreme measures are needed, bussing kids from the L-A area to Winona. I did not take a tour of the entire building, but I can say that the newest, large-scale, power tool in the shop adjoining Acord’s classroom is 20 years old.
In no way am I assuming, after spending one hour talking to a group of freshmen, that I know what is right for the Lewiston-Altura school district or its voters. What I do know is that these kids are aware of the situation and are anxious about it. When I asked them what they were worried about most, the entire room said that they did not want to go to school anywhere else because it was too far and/or too big. They like their school and they like the teachers they have.
I don’t know what November holds for them. I don’t know if they will get what they are hoping for or if they will be dealt another L. I don’t know what the future holds. I do know that I like them. I like their school and I like their teachers too. I liked going up there to talk to them. I liked what they taught me. For instance, I now know what a Digital Content Producer is and does and I very much like that. However, what I really enjoy is that teenagers are, simultaneously, the same as they always have been and completely different than my friends and I ever were. And that is enlightening, humbling and incredibly refreshing.
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