Linda Kensy:  

School My parents made us attend Hill Murray High for grades 9 thru 11 then we're given the option our senior year to stay at Hill Murray and graduate from there or transfer to Harding High which was only a block from our house where we had lived our entire lives...I guess my parents didn't think our first 8 years attending St Pascal's Catholic Elementary School was enough for us...lol My School Biography??? While I did attend Hill Murray for grades 9 - 11, I chose to transfer to Harding High for my senior year and graduated from there. My siblings and I all made different choices. While my oldest sibling was in her junior year at Hill Murray she decided to take night classes at Johnson High School at the same time so she actually graduated from Johnson High a year early as a junior. My next older sibling stayed at Hill Murray and graduated from there. My younger sibling transferred to Woodbury High. It was a really tough decision for me. Growing up on the East Side of St Paul was so unique. It was like one big community/family so everyone knew each other. I was getting so much pressure from my all my East Side neighborhood friends I had grown up with saying how much fun we'd have and you could get away with anything & while I was torn inside they kept after me til I finally gave in and made the decision to transfer to Harding High. It was interesting to say the least especially when the Principle at Harding High School not only knew me but my parents as well (I wasn't aware he was the principle at Harding at the time) because he also had 4 kids who all went to & graduated from Hill Murray so I was always on his radar...he was always trying to put pressure on me to transfer back to Hill Murray...especially when I may have broken a few rules at Harding while having a little "fun"... Sometimes I still wonder if it was the right decision but either way, it was still fun, even though I missed Hill Murray and my friends I had made there during the three years I had went there......the only exception being Brother Francis...never missed him one bit and was happy I didn't have to deal with him anymore..lol 😄 I have so many great memories/experiences from both Hill Murray & Harding High... I wish I knew then what I know now! I always wanted to be a Marine Bioloigist, Criminalologist or Nurse when I grew up. My family and a few friends didn't think any of my choices were a good idea or fit for me. As it turns out, they were wrong..I did go into Nursing which was very rewarding & I not only loved but it also ended up coming in very handy when my Mom was diagnosed with a brain anuerism & had to have brain surgery. While in recovery, she suffered a major stroke & we were told she'd never be able to live on her own again...being as close to my Mom as I was this did not sit well with me & I couldn't accept it so with a lot of time & hard work, I had her back living on her own within one year. After my shift I'd pick up my kiddos who I had been teaching to read & count, so I'd bring them to the nursing home they put my Mom in and was reading and teaching not only my boys but my Mom as well at the same time, inbetween doing PT & OT with my Mom & in just under a year she was able to live on her own again..the doctors said if they hadn't witnessed it for themselves, they wouldn't have believed it because after her stroke they said she was about where a 3 or 4 year old was...she had to basically learn everything all over again but she would have done the same for me...I was also grateful for having a Nursing background a few years later when my youngest son was born 4 months premature and had to stay in the hospital for 4 1/2 months before he could come home.. As far as my other career choices, I managed to complete one of them online & would really like to do the same with the other but because of what I went through when my son who was born so premature weighing barely a pound, I didn't think I'd make it through it...not knowing day to day, hour to hour or minute to minute if he was going to survive..all the setbacks, procedures & surgeries..but I received so much support from the awesome NICU staff & 2 unbelievable volunteer groups, Parents for Parents (parents who had gone through what I was currently going through shared their stories & restored my faith & hope which I thought I lost) & Grandparents for Parents (these were Grandparents who would go sit with your baby & if your baby was able to be held or touched, these wonderful people would sit there all night holding or rocking them, talking to & singing to them when one or both of the parents were not able to be there which was my case because the nurses are not supposed to do this & I spent the first 3 1/2 weeks in the ICU not even able to move at all so I wasn't even able to see him during that entire time but his nurses would take a picture for me every morning & night and he was the last thing I'd see before going to sleep at night & the first thing I would see when I'd open my eyes in the morning..I was then moved to the surgical unit for another 3 weeks but they wheeled the bed down there so I could at least see him) Between the awesome NICU staff and these volunteers they got me through the worst time of my life & I always promised myself I was going to try to give back some of the support I received so now that my son is 17 I am able to volunteer in both groups. If I'm going to work somewhere I need to have determination, drive, and faith in myself to be able to handle & deal with the day-to-day ups and downs which I have successfully accomplished and found to be bittersweet but still very rewarding. The one person from my past who I'd most like to see again is actually more than just one...I'd have to say my classmates/friends from both of my schools because while I lost touch with a lot of them... I was able to reconnect with quite a few at the past couple class reunions....but there are still a few more I'd love to see again and catch up with. I have 5 wonderful sons - four of them are on their own, one who is a junior and plays high school football & basketball..yep..the caboose who even after being 4 months premature plays every sport there is AND he is awesome. His goal is to play pro-football, then pro-baseball, then a pro-wrestler on Monday night Raw so that he can take care of his mom. What more can a mother ask for??? 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