Jeffrey Grossnickle:  

Life I graduated in 1974 from Bloomington North High School. I have been an independent insurance agent since April, 1982. I was also a pastor of a Christian Church in Bloomington (IN). My wife, Joani and I take short term misson trips. She is a Registered Nurse working at Bloomington Hospital ER. She graduated from Munster High School in 1974. I took EMT training to be a better medical missionary though never used it as a job. We have done a series of mission trips in Ivory Coast, W. Africa, Kenya, E. Africa, Mexico, Philippines and a few other places, including going to Banda Aceh Indonesia right after the tsunami. We take medical supplies into the bush and do treatments and teaching, in addition to setting up churches and doing leadership training. We have gone down into Tanzania and worked on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The Masaai are a very interesting culture. If you see the movie "Ghosts in the Darkness" with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, you will see exactly where we go and with whom we work. We cross the train track that is highlighted in the movie all the time. I have been a wrestling coach at Bl. North for 8 years but am taking a leave from that. It's in great hands and I really don't have the time now. I have a daughter who graduated from IU. She is married to an awesome guy and they are having a wonderful life in Ann Arbor. School High School. Great times, confusing times. We started at Bloomington High School and attended our sophomore year. North was finished that summer between 10th and 11th grade and I was in North district so I ended up there. We had the University School folks come in and that was quite a culture shock from our very traditional background at BHS which was then called South. University was a kind of experiment with openness and less structure. Sort of a creative arts atmosphere. Wrestling was what I did. No other sports interested me. School in general didn't interest me although I somehow managed a little over a 3 point. Miracles do happen! Friends were probably the most important thing to me. Especially after we switched schools. It was quite a melting pot at North! I think it was a really good "life's education." I am still really close to quite a few from those days. Do I have high school regrets? Absolutely. But we can't dwell on our mistakes, only learn from them, grow and maybe in doing so, pass on a little wisdom to the next group going through. The 70's were an awesome time to go through high school. Tie-dye, bell bottoms, and some of the greatest music ever written. We were free spirited and experimented with things I wouldn't want my daughter to, but I remember us being pretty responsible over all. I mean, I NEVER missed work or did a poor days work because of staying out too late or anything. To just not show up was NOT an option as it seems to be for some these days. O...Expand for more