Originally published in The Colorado Statesman on October 20th, 2015:

I grew up in Denver Public Schools, for the most part. My elementary school was Brown, located in what is now named “The Highlands.” The school had the same principal for 30 years. In middle school, I thought I might get a better education in private school. so I asked my parents if I could attend Holy Family, the Catholic school several miles away. I remember the nuns at Holy Family initially nodding their heads at my school work. But 18 months later, with straight A’s, and the recognition that my private education hadn’t proven any better, I returned to Skinner Middle School and finished out my education in the neighborhood schools where my family lived.

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