Albuquerque Public Schools
Thank You, Veterans!
In her weekly message, Superintendent Blakey introduces the APS community to a veteran who now teaches at Tomasita Elementary School.
As we head into a three-day weekend, I’d like to take a few minutes to commemorate Veterans Day and thank the remarkable men and women who have stepped up to protect our nation.
These brave service members are the reason our nation has survived 248 years. The sacrifices they’ve made for our country are immeasurable.
We have a number of veterans in our ranks here at APS. I want to introduce you to one of them, Capt. Darryl Bryant, a fifth-grade teacher at Tomasita Elementary School and a 1980 graduate of Manzano High School. He recently earned his doctorate in organizational leadership with an emphasis in special education. His dissertation focused on gifted education.
There are many things to admire about Darryl, but one of the things that impresses me the most is his commitment to giving back. He believes everyone should go out into the world and find success, then return to the community that nurtured them and extend a helping hand to those coming up.
That’s exactly what he’s done
Last year, nearly 45 years after graduating from Manzano, he went back to speak at the school’s honors award ceremony. He had just finished his doctorate and shared his story with students who walked the same halls as he had as a student.
He calls that experience one of the highlights of his life.
Darryl, like so many other veterans, epitomizes selflessness and service to others.
I could tell you about Darryl, but I fear that I won’t do him justice. So I’m going to let Darryl tell his own story.
Happy Veterans Day, and to all of our veterans, thank you!
Capt. Darryl Bryant, in his own words
I served in the U.S. Air Force for almost 30 years. I enlisted from Kirtland Air Force Base in 1980, when I was a senior at Manzano High School.
My father served during the Korean War, my grandfather was actually on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor right before it was bombed, and my great-grandfather served during World War I. So there was no way I was not going to serve.
My grandfather was assigned to the USS Arizona, but as an African American, they were not allowed to return to the ship after dark. That night he had missed curfew. As he was coming in the following morning, that’s when they started all the bombing. He was one of the men who retrieved hundreds of bodies. He probably saved countless others as well.
I started off as a combat medic, but this was on the heels of Vietnam. Eventually, I was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer, and my specialty was medical readiness. I was responsible for chemical and biological warfare preparation and training. I had an opportunity also to be a part of medical evacuations, so we were responsible for retrieving assets against some pretty challenging environments.
I supported Desert Storm and was responsible for making sure our teams were prepared to go into the theater of operations, no matter where that would be. I’m a retired commander.
I think of Veterans Day as a time when we celebrate those who have served our country, whether they’re first responders or military. For me, it’s probably more special now as we are such a polarized nation. At the core of everything we do is the Constitution. I believe America is truly one of the greatest countries on the planet.
I decided to become a teacher almost 17 years ago, right upon retiring from the Air Force. To me, that’s interwoven with my military call to duty and experience.
My wife, Cheryl, is a teacher. We have taught at the same school for almost a decade. It’s a Title I school with tremendous need, and we get to influence reading, STEM and all these great things. We get to make a difference. We get to see it every day and every year. My mission as a teacher is to get kids excited about science and math.
The thing I like to share with my students about my military service is the leadership component of it – that there’s more to just being great at something. Being great at something is good but it’s also being able to be a leader and to influence others to make good decisions. It’s a big part of who I am. I got that confidence in the military.
One of the most important things I always tell my students is to come back to Tomasita and our community. Come back and visit fifth graders in the future because what they will have to say to those fifth graders will mean more than anything I can say or do in the classroom. And I get to see that. I have students who come back and visit me who are in college now, who own businesses and who are in medical school.
Two of my former students became teachers, they say, because of me. How amazing! Being a veteran has taught me to love my profession as a teacher. I have received my doctorate degree. I can go out and do a whole bunch. But what’s important to me is really having a positive influence on my community, this community that I grew up in. I’m still here and I’m still contributing, and that’s what they teach you in the military. Go back and serve. Service before self.
My principal, Valerie Jaramillo, is married to a veteran. I appreciate her commitment to the military and our veterans and the honor she has shown me since my very first day. I started there a year after having a massive heart attack, and she gave this broken warrior another chance to go in the classroom. I think that’s because she understood me as a military man, that I would know my own limitations and wouldn’t give anything less than my best. It’s been almost a decade.
I’m truly blessed to be able to serve and give back to my community.