RUSSELL HIVELY: Remembering my former students

I have been noticing an unusually large number crickets and bluebirds along Wildcat Boulevard lately.

I first noticed large concentrations of small crickets on the base of the lights in the new parking lot north of the practice field. I suspected they had hatched (Don’t crickets hatch?) out in that area and were getting ready to disperse.    

The large masses of these little black crickets are gone now, but if you check around the edges of your home or in the flower gardens you will find them. Crickets are late summer creatures.

I have wondered if the over supply of bluebirds I have been seeing came as a result of the cricket population explosion. This sounds logical, that is if bluebirds eat crickets.

Besides watching the birds and bugs, I was thinking about some former students I had met recently. After teaching at Neosho High School for 25 years and having a night class off and on for 17 years at Crowder College, I have a large number of former students.

Sometimes I learn about what they are doing when I talk with their parents. It is always good to hear about their achievements. I recently heard that one teaches English, another just took a job as a sports reporter at an area newspaper, and another former student recently took on a job promoting the passing of legislation out west.

A couple weeks back I went to a meeting at the Missouri District of Transportation (MoDOT) office in Joplin. It was a small meeting and when the two MoDOT people came in, one looked directly at me and said, “Mr. Hively, I was just talking about you to my son.”

Apparently, she had been cleaning out some old papers and had discovered an essay she had written for my class. For some reason she had kept it over the years.

She had shown it to her son who will be entering high school this year. She used it to show how a high school assignment related to the her job today. This tale, certainly made me feel proud.

A week or so back, I took the car into Griffith Motor Company for an oil change and checkup. The waiting room was full, so I waited in the sales room. Soon one of the salesmen came over to chat, than a customer came in wanting a car for his 16-year-old daughter, and then the company’s financial guy came to join in the conversation. These three were all former students.

As we sat together, we four talked about many things — the city of Neosho’s financial problems and why we have them, cars, school days, teenaged drivers, personal philosophies, and so on. We only talked a few minutes, but it was an enjoyable time for me.

In many ways, former students are like your own children. You want them to do well, to be productive citizens who raise their families, pay their taxes, and care for others.

Take a walk, enjoy life — it does have an expiration date — use those signal lights, and see what you notice while passing along Wildcat Boulevard.   

Russell Hively writes a weekly column for the Daily News.