Posted by Charisse Aoki on 4/15/2019 2:10:00 PM
Cheryl Grothues inspired both my daughters, Katharine and Kristin Aoki. As Katharine’s coach, she gave my older daughter a chance to play on the B Basketball Team at Bradley Middle School. My daughter was shy and unsure about playing basketball. Katharine has since become a 5th history middle teacher at Roxbury Prep in Massachusetts and helped coach some middle school basketball games. She currently is the Director of Special Projects at Roxbury Prep. Mrs. Grothues’ caring attitude for her students helped plant the seed for the love of teaching in Katharine, KT.
My younger daughter, Kristin was a student in Mrs. Grothues’ Reading class and a member of the Bradley Readers Club that Mrs. Grothues co-sponsored with April Gastinger. Kristin and several of Mrs. Grothues’ students wanted to expand on a lesson that Mrs. Grothues taught in class. The girls planned a "Random Acts of Kindness" Day. They created a video, made shirts, and raised money to hand out free “Random Acts of Kindness” items. Kristin never lost that love to do things for others and planned to do her Girl Scout Gold Project at Bradley Middle School to expand on what Mrs. Grothues had taught them. Kristin took that love of spreading kindness to Lee high school and to Olin College of Engineering by helping others through various organizations in school and through the church. Now, Kristin plans to intern at an organization called Six Seconds that promotes Emotional Intelligence. Six Seconds is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting people to create positive changes in schools, in the workplace, and through programs that help change lives. https://www.6seconds.org/about/ Cheryl inspired me to coach middle school basketball and to carry on what she started with Kristin. Today the “Random Acts of Kindness” day they started, has been transformed into school-wide activities at Bradley Middle School.
Cheryl Grothues continues to be a part of my daughters’ lives and mine as a friend and co-worker at Bradley Middle School.
Cheryl Grothues has made a life-changing impact on the Aoki girls. Thank you Cheryl Grothues!
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