Dennis+Kane

Hi:

I'm Dennis Kane, the school district's superintendent. I wanted to go to college after high school but had limited choices because of poor grades, low SAT scores and a rank near the bottom of the class. At the time Marquette University was the largest Catholic college in the country and needed to fill dormitory space. Eighteen years old and feeling rebellious I figured six hundred and fifty miles from my parents was not a bad thing. I applied and Marquette accepted me.

My freshman year, I struggled to keep a "B" average. Wisconsin has a history of progressivism and in the early 1970s had a lot of social activism and protests against the Viet Nam war. During my sophomore year, I got involved with the Casa Maria House of Hospitality, a Catholic Worker House, in Milwaukee's inner city about ten blocks from Marquette. Casa Maria accepted homeless families and at the time Milwaukee had no place for homeless families. Mother and children went to a women's shelter and the father to a men's shelter. The summer after my sophomore year and my entire junior year, I lived at Casa Maria. Despite the demanding work of Casa Maria (intakes, counseling, cooking, cleaning, keeping the books, begging for money with pots and pans outside of local churches on Sundays) my focus on school and grades improved. When every minute of every day becomes important, I found how to use time as a benefit.

In 1974 I graduated with a double major in journalism and philosphy. I never worked as a journalist or went on to graduate philosophy. Back in Buffalo I went to work for Transitional Services a residential mental health service that opened in 1972. For the next twelve years I had the fortune to be involved in being part of a team that built an exemplary residential services model for those suffering from chronic and persistent mental health problems. I look back now on the decision at eighteen to go to Milwaukee and the experience of Marquette and Casa Maria to be the most transformative occurrence in my life.