SYCAMORE HISTORY
In His Words Founding Parent Tom Wilson Recalls the First Four Years of Sycamore
Tom Wilson was one of the early believers and supporters of Sycamore School. An entrepreneur who founded a successful company that made dance clothes for competitive dancers, his two children attended Sycamore in its very first year of operation —1985. He remembers the struggles of those early years, why they stuck to their belief Sycamore was worth it, and how he and his family knew it was the right thing to be doing— in his words.
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t’s early spring in 1985. Andy and Erin, our children, were in 4th and 2nd grades, respectively, in the Perry Township school system. Both were in the Perry IDEA gifted education program; it replaced regular classroom activity two half-days per week with a more advanced curriculum. I don’t think any of us were particularly happy with Andy and Erin’s education so far; it felt unchallenging. The “straw that broke the back” in my confidence in the school system was when Andy’s daily teacher told us “Andy’s intelligence is his cross to bear.” Emily (my wife) and I wanted better for our kids but struggled for alternatives, as we weren’t at an economic level where opportunities make themselves available. Jessica Welch, Andy and Erin’s IDEA teacher, called and introduced to Emily a plan to open a new school focused exclusively on gifted children and their education. She felt strongly this new school would provide well for both Andy and Erin. Mrs. Welch was heading the curriculum development as well as moving to the new school. Mrs. Welch as Andy and Erin’s IDEA teacher, Mrs. Welch, had already made an important impact on them, and we respected her work and thoughts. I was driving north on the westside of I-465 when my car phone rang. Remember car phones—the prelude to today’s cellular world? It was Emily calling. “I’ve just made a decision! Jessica Welch called me to tell me about a new school. We’re sending Andy and Erin there.”
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Erin, Tom, and Tulips
“Okay,” I replied. “What’s it called?” “No idea,” said Emily. “Where is it?” “Don’t know that yet either, and I don’t know how much it will cost, but Mrs. Welch is involved and she’s adamant Andy and Erin should go there.” That’s the short version of our introduction
