Grateful: Terry Shanks

He gets up early to go to work, to a job too far away, to sit behind a desk for most of his day in the locker room.

When he does get up, he moves very slowly. 

When students see him they don’t know much about him. They see a serious guy on the surface, and many are often intimidated. Some would consider his life boring or unsuccessful, but to him, he’s made it.

As Terry Shanks passes people by, he exchanges words with them and gives them handshakes or throws them a peace sign. He learned to move very patiently and carefully from all the lessons he learned throughout his life.

As they get to know him, or rather, as he goes out of his way to know them, they see a caring individual who expresses his gratitude for simply being alive and living a “good life.”

He’s grateful for being no longer addicted to substances.

He’s grateful for not being in jail.

He’s grateful for his wife.

He’s grateful for his spirituality.

He’s grateful for a kind and caring Lab school community who has helped him through his hardest points in life.

Every day he comes to the school with a positive attitude and it’s because of the perspective that he has and the appreciation he has for living a better life than most of the people he grew up around.

While some would see his job as just working in a locker room he sees his job as advising students and making sure they have the best gym class experience they can. He’s been making the lives of the Lab community better for the past 25 years of his life.