Marcus Thompson II ’95

The finances and reputation of Oakland schools were way down. But at Tech, we were bent on proving that wrong, being better. It was like the school had a chip on its shoulder and was bent on proving we were greater than what you may have thought. I rode the bench for the basketball team! I was a writer and editor for Scribe News and served as ASB president as a senior. Teachers that stand out: Mrs. Matthews. She raised the standard for us. She was the first teacher who wasn’t happy I turned in the work. Turning in poor work was just as unacceptable. I love that woman for caring so much to not accept less. Madeline Pyeatt. She didn’t seem to care about the stereotypes attached to our demographic. There were some things she thought kids our age should know. I loved that she refused to dumb it down or keep our perspectives limited. Mr. O’Keith. Some people are just made to work with young people. You could tell he knew many of us were probably victims of hard lives and made his class a place you wanted to be.

Marcus is currently a Sports Columnist for the Bay Area News Group.