Guest Speakers: An Exercise in Hospitality +

Dear Fellow Teachers and Coaches,

I want to extend a work of encouragement and a friendly reminder here: invite guest speakers, to talk in your classroom and/or with your team. 

This message it not new. It will require some effort on your part, but anyone in education is no stranger to hard work. While it is always prudent to vet your speaker, when you find a good one—keep them close and tell other teachers and coaches about them. Their presence, wisdom, experience and expertise break up the grind. Their stories, connections and insights leaven the load. I was reminded of this when three men affiliated with the San Francisco Police Department came to speak at St. Ignatius College Prep on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.

While the intended audience was the Criminal Justice class, I found Sports and Spirituality connections from each speaker. Cross-curricular connections make listening and learning more meaningful and fun. They are worth celebrating (which is where the realm athletics CAN serve as the "8th period of the day."). 

I ran into Greg Suhr '76, former Chief of Police at the gym before school. After I critiqued his form on on the rowing machine (the erg) he told me that he would be on campus to speak to seniors. He noted that the students prepared a long list of questions for the panel. I learned a lot from what the students asked and opined. 

One question was about the image society has of the police. Greg explained that when he was as student at SI, he had a positive image of law enforcement because so many of his coaches were cops. He added, "building personal relationships with young people, especially through sports is essential to what we do. I'm going to let J.J. speak to that, as it's part of his story."

Officer Jason Johnson grew up in the Bayview neighborhood and admitted, "I was one of those kids who did not trust the police whatsoever. So I get it." He recalled a turning point for him personally and professionally at the Boys and Girls club. He said "I was standing inside the gym in my uniform; the kids were looking at me with suspicion and making comments like the ones I used to make. One of the basketballs rolled over to where I was standing and I started dribbling. I then took it to the hoop and dunked it. All of a sudden, all the kids wanted to know how they too could dunk." A relationship was born.

That recollection led to my favorite story of the day: It's worth watching (see above) and learning more about here.

Office Peter Walsh '87 was proud to share with the Wildcats that he has been with SFPD for 31 years. A fellow parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul, I have to admit I enjoy going to church that much more when I know people in the pews. 

Officer Walsh addressed a number of questions about tasers—an acronym for  Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle. (This was fascinating to me because I recently re-read a post from 2010 about Philly police using a taser on a fan who stormed the field. Spellcheck kept running the word taser as misspelled because it recognizes the word as an acronym!). The San Francisco Board of City Supervisors held back police funding of these handheld devices, citing the need for a more comprehensive understanding of their costs. 

He made a distinction about "causation" and "contributing to."  Studies found that tasers—which incapacitate a person by transmitting a high-volt electric shock, do not cause death but have been a contributing factor—along with issues of mental health, drug usage, etc to death. I was surprised by how many questions the students had about this topic!

The crew also answered questions about tips—what qualifies as a legitimate tip or not. This was timely as the serial killer in Stockton had been caught in part to some tips to the police. They spoke about de-escalation, harm reduction (as a tactic in working with drug users, not sellers), bias, body cameras and more. Suhr said their biggest challenge is also their greatest need: good men and women to serve in the department and improving their image. I looked around the room and thought a number of these students would excel in law enforcement. 

This class was made better because of conversations like this one. It only happens because of an invitation and a willingness to give of ourselves to one another. And that's what true hospitality is. Parker Palmer writes "hospitality is not an end of itself. It is offered for the sake of what it can allow, permit, encourage, and yield.” 

Welcoming guest speakers into our classrooms, to address a student body and meet with our teams is but a starting point for this biblical virtue. 

“Hospitality, Henri Nouwen writes, “means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.” Amen.

Let’s welcome guests into our communities. This is a wonderful means for our students to learn more about themselves and one another. 

Thank you, Danielle, Greg, JJ and Pete: your knowledge, the breadth of your experiences, humor, humility and professionalism made for a riveting class period. I am a better teacher and citizen because of your time! AMDG

A special note of thanks to Daniel McMahon of DeMatha HS, Hyattsville, MD for the inspiration to write about hospitality.

SFPD Chief of Police Greg Suhr: Invictus

Father Robert Walsh walked into the AP Government class and greeted a special guest speaker, San Francisco’s new Chief of Police, Greg Suhr. Chief Suhr, a 1976 graduate of St. Ignatius smiled at the Father President, and said, “I’m no longer the most important man in the room.” 

Fr. Walsh said, “No, no, no Chief, you are.” I looked at the four stars on the chief’s collar. I thought about the magnitude of his responsibility and all that the patch on his uniform stands for and thought, their joking aside, Father Walsh is right.

Students at Jesuit high schools throughout the country know they are called to be "men and women for and with others.” As we near graduation at SI, we are intentionally holding conversations between seniors and those in our society who are living out the Jesuit motto. His presence and his message served as evidence that this ideal had taken root and flourished in both his personal and professional life.

The young man asked to introduce the chief of police revealed that Chief Suhr is his father’s best friend and his sister’s Godfather. A proud product of Catholic schools, Chief Suhr heard several cheers when said he was a St. Brendan’s Bear. He noted both schools had a tremendous impact on him. “So many people helped me in both communities. I learned when you help people, they give back one-hundred fold. You always get it back.”

He played football at St. Ignatius and stood in the classroom of his former coach. He continued to play football at City College and asked the assembled crowd if anyone in the room plays rugby. (St. Ignatius does not have a rugby team. A small but vocal minority of students play in the Golden Gate Rugby league. Every year, I find out who these kids are because of their love for the sport and their commitment to the league. I’m glad they have it.)

Chief Suhr continued to talk about this rugby team, even though only one person in the room was a rugby player. I can talk about a sport as long as possible, but in all honesty, I wondered where his story was going. Yet, I’m sure many people feel the same way about their vocation—Where is it going? Where are they going?

Suhr said his team, the Castaways, was a band of brothers. This fraternity was so loyal to one another that after a very unlikely win, the team could not celebrate because one teammate was taking the San Francisco Police Academy entrance exam the next day. He needed to be rested and sharp. It was too important to take any risks and yet interestingly enough, this teammate asked Suhr and others if they wanted to take the test, too. Suhr knew a starting police officer made $25,000 a year and figured Why not? He must have done well because he received a call within the year to further the process. We could say the rest is SFPD history….

Chief Suhr’s message was a reminder to the students—do what you love. When you follow your passion, you are your best self. Rugby grounded Suhr in a community that he trusted and supported. Their unsuspecting win and a simple decision for the good of their teammate’s obligation became something they took on as their own. And in doing so, it became the seedbed for much more. It yielded an unlikely result!

One of the more popular movies about rugby is “Invictus.” Its title is from the poem by the English poet, William Ernest Henley. The final stanza reads: 

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

Greg Suhr was captain of the Bayview station and today he is the captain of the SFPD captains—a position rife with city politics. Being that his position is temporary, it is difficult to say he is the master of his fate until the newly elected mayor is in office. If however, he lives by the motto of being a man for and with others, regardless of what will happen, he will remain the captain of his soul…no one can take that away from another person. And you might just figure that out doing something you love to do… playing rugby or working for the SFPD. 

Photo Credits:
SF Chief of Police
New Chief
Invictus