Richard Lamb tapped as new Rich School Board member

Richard Lamb has been chosen to replace a former board member who has moved to Nevada.  RCTonline asked him to explain why he wanted to accept this position.

"I am a veterinarian by profession and I’m sure you are wondering why in the world a man who spends all his time treating animals would want to get involved in public education.  With 20 years experience in the public education system as a student I am very much a benefactor of the system and in no small way, I am who I am because of the teachers who helped me on my way.

Being a vet I meet with many people every day and it is a rare day that I don’t hear someone say that growing up all they wanted to be was a vet.  Of course that humbles me to think how lucky I am to be living a life that to someone else is only a dream.  When I ask what caused them to change their mind the answer is always the same…  College Chemistry.  

And that brings us back to one of those public educators who made a huge impact on my life.  You see, I was lucky enough to have Royal Jensen as my high school chemistry teacher; he was one of those truly amazing teachers who could take a subject as obtuse as chemistry and teach it to juniors and seniors in high school in enough detail  and lucid enough that we could go into our college chemistry classes comfortable that we would understand anything that the professor would bring up.  

Sadly, I did not recognize what a remarkable gift I had been given until long after the chance to say thank you had passed.  So now, the task is to pay it forward;  My objective is to do anything I can to help the school district find, hire and keep the Royal Jensens of education so that when the students of Rich High School graduate they have a sufficiently firm foundation built under them that they can walk into the classrooms on any college campus, comfortable that they understand the subject, even if it is chemistry. "