20/20 Leadership into Education Hall of Fame on Nov. 3

By ALAN HOSKINS

If proof is indeed in the pudding, 20/20 Leadership has a whale of a product.

Now in its 20th year, there are graduates in the Navy Seals and Air Force special forces; airline pilots, physicians, financial advisors – and at least 14 teachers within local school districts.

Both presidential candidates have 20/20 alums on their key staffs and one graduate wrote the succession plan for the CEO and president of the Kansas City, Mo. Chamber of Commerce. Even the chairman of the 20/20 Leadership Board is a graduate.

“Our oldest student now is 37 and it’s wonderful to see and watch our students go on to bigger and better things,” says Executive Director Marilyn Alstrom.

As for 20/20 Leadership, it is receiving the ultimate in honors – induction into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame Saturday, Nov. 3, at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

A fund-raiser for the KCKCC Endowment Association, the dinner and induction ceremonies are open to the public and reservations can be made by calling 913-288-7166 or by e-mail to pmccartney@kckcc.edu.

Founded in 1993 with 36 students and a budget of $3,500 for a 9-month junior program, 20/20 Leadership this year is reaching out to more than 350 junior and seniors in 23 high schools in the greater Kansas City area – all because the Class VII of Leadership 2000 wanted to make a difference.

“We felt time was being wasted if we didn’t create a youth leadership program,” says Alstrom.

Long-time teacher Al Frisby into Education Hall of Fame

By ALAN HOSKINS, KCKCC

Progressing through high school and college, Al Frisby learned about teaching from some of the best – and some not so good.

“One of my instructors at Metropolitan Junior College at 39th and McGee was a wonderful biology teacher,” says Frisby. “We called him ‘Batman’ because he liked to take students through caves. He really opened my eyes to biology as a career. I also had wonderful teachers at Stephen F. Austin University and Emporia State and a great mentor in my first year of teaching at Turner High School, Lloyd Fugate. First year teachers need mentors and he really helped in learning better ways to teach a course in biology.”

In contrast, his introduction to education didn’t get off to a very good start.

“Except for a few teachers, I didn’t have a good experience in high school. Most of the the teachers didn’t make things very interesting for me,” says Frisby, a 1964 graduate of William Chrisman High School. “And when I was a student teacher in Texas, the regular teacher didn’t have many labs and all she wanted me to do was lecture and I was disappointed in that. I wanted to have hands-on instruction for the kids.”

The lessons he learned – both good and bad – he certainly learned well and after 41 years in the classroom, he will be inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City Kansas Community College Saturday, Nov. 3.

A fund-raiser for the KCKCC Endowment Association, the 17th annual dinner and induction ceremonies are open to the public and reservations can be made by phone at 913-288-7166 or by e-mail to pmccartney@kckcc.edu.

For 30 years from 1972-2002, Frisby taught biology, AP biology, anatomy and physiology and chemistry at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School and added another six years teaching biology at Liberty High School.

In addition, he spent four years substituting in science classes in SM high schools along with teaching anatomy one summer at KCKCC and another summer teaching freshman biology at Rockhurst University.

However, some of his most interesting work came before he ever got to SM Northwest. He had not finished his first year of teaching at Turner when he received a draft notice.

“I needed a deferral to finish my first year and then on June 8, 1970, I was called to take a physical at Union Station. Instead, I was kidnapped so to speak. They took me right to Fort Leonard Wood. I had to call my wife and tell her I would not be home for a while.”