Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
On a fall day in 1986, a boy one year shy of adulthood left work early – the work of being a roofer in California’s high desert heat. He had something very important to do – become the first person in his family to enroll in college.
But after only a few minutes at his hometown’s community college, the fifth of seven children in his family almost left to go back to work.
“I went to what I thought was the admissions building. Turns out, it was the administration building.”
No big deal, right? Someone would give him directions, and off he would go. But remember, this was a young man who didn’t know how to navigate a college campus, and couldn’t ask anyone in his family about college life.
“I went in there and said, ‘I would like to apply.’”
The lady to whom he was speaking happened to work for the school’s president.
“She could have said, ‘Well, you’re a knucklehead. You’re in the wrong building.’ But she didn’t. She said, ‘Welcome.’ She asked me questions and made me feel she was interested. Then, she walked with me. She didn’t say, ‘Hey, go to that building two doors down.’ She walked with me all the way and gave me a warm handoff.”
Their interaction didn’t last more than a few minutes, but for one of those two people, has not been forgotten.
“It meant everything. I could have easily turned around, got right back into my car, and all the questions about whether college was for me would have been different. I would have had a very different life.”
Rick Bateman, the 56-year-old Chancellor of Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC), told me that story, and his story, during lunch at a place he often frequents – Silver Star Smokehouse – since it’s just down the road from where he works. Rick had the Light Platter with smoked turkey and ribs (he took some ribs home for his Shih Tzu), a side of au Gratin potatoes, and water to drink. I enjoyed the Strawberry Salad and water with lemon. I did not take any food home to my dog.
“When I orient new faculty and staff to BPCC, I always tell that story, how important that embrace is to make students feel welcome, and that they know they do belong, and that their success is our success.
Rick was born at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California. He went to Antelope Valley High School. He delivered the Antelope Valley Press newspaper. He went to Antelope Valley College. And guess what?
“I never did see an antelope.”
But Rick did see a certain man stop by his house a handful of times during the year. He didn’t think much of it. As far as Rick knew, his father was his mother’s husband.
“I got all the way to sixth or seventh grade before I realized that this fella who would show up from time to time, and deliver Christmas gifts, was actually my biological father. I went by my stepfather’s last name all through elementary school and middle school.”
Rick’s stepfather worked in the Aerospace industry. The family lived close to Edwards Air Force Base, which meant Rick got to watch several space shuttle landings.
“We learned where to look in the sky when we heard the sonic boom.”
Financially, things got tight when Rick’s stepfather was laid off.
“We never lost our home, but things were lean . . . . I remember there were times when we would get on government cheese. That was really tough on my parents to deal with.”
There wasn’t much money to spend on playing organized sports, but when Rick was 10 years old, his parents enrolled him in a karate class. Six years later, Rick earned a black belt. Eventually, he got paid to teach private lessons.
“I really enjoyed being around those men, and I think they shaped me a lot. I think that group of men had a lot to do with who I am today.”
It wasn’t until he was studying at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) that Rick began to think about a career in education. But that seed wasn’t planted in a college classroom. To make some money, “I was an assistant teacher in a fourth-grade classroom.” The teacher, and seeing the development of those young people over the course of a year, she was just an amazing professional. I got to see how the instruction was built, and how it evolved over the course of a year. Seeing the children evolving and growing.”
After majoring in History, Rick was planning on going to graduate school. But those plans were squashed when Araceli, whom Rick had dated for six years, told him she and her family were moving back to their home country of Belize.
“I definitely didn’t want to lose her. I definitely knew I loved her. I definitely wanted to have a life with her.”
So that meant a life in Belize, where Rick and Araceli were married (31 years and counting). They taught at the same school until moving back to the United States 13 years later.
“We picked up our master’s degrees from Loyola of New Orleans via distance while we were in Belize. I was looking to earn a doctorate, and I was encouraged to look at the University of Texas. There’s a community college leadership program which is really well known. It’s produced the most community college presidents of any program in the country over a 60-year period. I applied and got into that, so we moved to Austin.”
After stops at a technical community college in Lake Charles, and Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College, Rick became BPCC’s interim chancellor, before having the “interim” tag removed in 2015.
“I had a spiritual mentor, a Jesuit priest, who said, ‘All God really wants us to do is identify the talents we are endowed with, nurture those talents, then apply them where we find the greatest need. I’ve always found the two-year college to be a place where there is significant need. I love that we serve students who exist on the margins. I think the same thing I saw in the development of those fourth graders over a period of a year, I love seeing the way our students develop over two years. It’s just amazing that a student who shows up at BPCC who wouldn’t look you in the eye, wouldn’t talk to you, and certainly wouldn’t shake your hand, watching them become student leaders, student body presidents, and representing the college statewide.”
Now, surely the man who oversees an institute of higher education had better things to do than visit with someone with my intellect. So, I asked Rick my final question. As always, what is it about his life story that he can pass along to someone else? Rick first offered advice to today’s youth.
“If it’s a young person who would be the first in their family to go to college, walk in faith. Keep taking those steps forward. You just never know where that path is going to take you.”
Then, Rick focused on adults.
“31 years now, it’s less about making a difference, and more about an openness to be made different by the folks we get to work with, and the students we serve. I am made different today by the students who come to BPCC and change their lives. They share that with me, and I’m made different by that.”
Just like on that fall day, when a “knucklehead” was made different by one person’s kindness.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers