PEORIA, Ill. — A graduate of Manual High School returned for a visit for the first time in 35 years.
Dr. Marquita Furness Davis, the Deputy Director of Early Learning for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was this year’s keynote speaker at the 365 Breakfast, hosted by the Peoria Public Schools Foundation.
“They offered [me] another opportunity to come back to my Alma mater,” Davis said. “I was a student here at Manual High School. I graduated in 1985.”
Davis said it was strange to be back.
“I haven’t been here in 35 years. You just don’t know what you’re going to walk into. Especially, for a young person like me. I thought my life was high school,” Davis said.
While touring Manual, Davis said it is great to see how the school adapted to the community.
“What I think is really great is that they’re learning that schools are different and communities are different now then they were 35 years ago,” Davis said. “Now they have all these programs that address the needs of kids that are growing up in these communities. They have a food pantry, and after care programs, come on the weekends and use the systems, they’re going to have a lock-in.”
While adjusting to the needs of the kids in the community, Davis said the school is very committed.
“If you close a school down in a community, it changes the community. I’m glad they didn’t give up on this high school,” she said.
During her speech at the 365 Breakfast, Davis said her big message was what is going on at the south end.
“I believe in public education. It is out right to be educated in a democracy in which we live. I think public education is successful when the people who live in the communities pour back into public education. Regardless where the schools are throughout Peoria,” she said. “All of these kids belong to us.”
Davis said that her message to the kids currently in school is to the best that you possibly can do.
“Know that there are absolutely no limits to all that you can do. Enjoy these moments, they go by so quickly. Take advantage of every single opportunity, even if it seems small. And, when this is all said and done, have no regrets,” she said.
