JRA: Alumni: Ted Hopkins

I claim a somewhat unique perspective on JRA in a couple of ways. First, I was one of the very first students to attend the school, starting when I was very young and after the 6^th Grade graduating among some of the first to do so.  I also was one of the several who would eventually return to teach at JRA, so was able to experience my school's many inimitable qualities from the other side of the desk as well.

Attending JRA from such a young age enabled me to grow up in a sense with the school.  It was a new school then, and in retrospect probably had many of the qualities of a new parent raising an adopted family.  Over the years I witnessed a new classroom building being built (turning into a backstop for our kickball outfield), grade levels being added a year at a time, and the staging of increasingly elaborate musical productions.  While much changed around us as JRA grew, this family atmosphere would never wane.  Most of the teachers stayed with the classes as they moved from grade to grade, so for better or worse, they knew us very well.  By the time I left for middle school at Pine View, it was quite a change from what had been, up to that point, the only school I ever knew.  While JRA certainly did its part to prepare me academically, I found my new school, even such a small public one, to be extraordinarily impersonal by contrast.  I went from a culture that nurtured students on multiple levels to an institution that was almost exclusively academic in its focus.  In hindsight, I realized that a school can be so much more than simply a place to learn facts if run the right way by the right people.

After spending a good amount of time in the "real world" doing various things, including college in DC and a stint in the Army, I found myself back at JRA as a teacher.  After all those years, I was immediately struck by how many familiar faces remained-my former teachers who were now my peers, as well as a few former students who, like myself, had returned to teach.  Not only were they familiar to me, but none needed to be reminded who I was.  I see this as indicative of the family atmosphere at the school that has remained essentially unchanged.  I was not just some kid who had passed through to be forgotten in favor of the next group.  I was also struck by the ownership the students felt in the school.  Like me, many of them had grown up here, and by the time they reached middle school it was certainly their place.  A few kids even clearly thought of me as the "new guy," though they were disabused of this notion when I pointed out, as a grumpy old man might, that I had attended JRA when the giant tree in the middle of the playground was but a sapling.  I certainly got paid back a bit for all the grief that I gave my teachers during my time as a student, but definitely found my teaching tenure to be a rewarding and fulfilling experience.  I had the opportunity to work with kids of every age in various capacities and am pleased that I was able to bring that which I got from my experience at JRA back to some small degree.  I've since gone on to a career in law enforcement, and currently work for the US Capitol Police tactical team protecting members of Congress, who actually have many similarities to the aforementioned middle-schoolers.

I'll wrap up by noting that my oldest friends are those I made through JRA.  I am still close with several, but really all those with whom I attended JRA are in a sense family.  Somehow, Julie keeps up with so many of them and I am always curious to hear how they are doing and am invariably pleased to run into any of them to catch up.  How many people can say they keep in touch with anyone they met in nursery school or their teachers?  JRA is truly a unique environment I would commend to anyone for not only its academics but its loving and nurturing environment.

Ted Hopkins