I went to high school with Mike and I mean that literally, I went to the same one.  I saw Mike more in the locker room and on the football field than I did in any classroom, but we both managed to graduate from Shawnee High in 1983, Go Renegades! Although our paths to our goals in life took different directions, I believe we can both say we succeeded. The only chance to reach my life goal was in my 20’s, while Mike’s ambitions spanned decades reaching many pinnacles along the way only to hit the reset button and challenge himself again and again. His current stop, Vice President & General Manager, NRG Consumer. Have a 10 minute conversation with Mike and a 10 minute conversation with me and you can tell who paid more attention in high school.

Looking back though it all makes sense. While I was taking Speech he was taking Latin, my elective was Shop class his was World Civilization, I finished with pre-Calculus he finished with Calculus, while I was in Study Hall, he was meeting with Student Council (Mike pictured 2nd from left with Student Council members holding future Hollywood Celeb, Calista Flockhart, married to Harrison Ford). The only class I think we had together was lunch and I have to say I killed that one.

So it’s easy to see, although the path in High School to reach our life goals was different, it suited us both. However, I’m willing to bet we can both agree the highest achievement we reached equally is one that cannot be taught in a class. Some is learned by observing our parents, but honestly much of it is done on the job and that’s raising a family. Families we are very proud of with children that will strive to make this world a better place than when we both arrived.

Congrats Mike on the win.