Who's Mr. Kane and How Did He Get to Douglas Middle School ... Life's a Journey, Isn't It?
I'd like to take a moment and introduce myself to the Douglas School District and Box Elder and Rapid City communities. My name is Mike Kane and this is how the story goes (the Reader's Digest version, if you will). So, most of the story starts in the San Francisco Bay Area (CA), where I grew up. Menlo Park actually, which during the '60s and '70s, was a small town, not unlike some of the towns here in the Black Hills. I graduated from Menlo-Atherton HS, in 1978 and from that point on, I bounced around a bit, from the great Northwest to here, there and everywhere, in CA. Finally, I decided to complete my bachelor's degree and went to San Jose State University, 25 miles south of Menlo Park. My time at SJSU was a truly wonderful experience and besides receiving my degree, I received something even more awesome, I met a most amazing, incredible, wonderful woman, my wife to be, Michelle! We were married in 1990 and again our lives were a bit mobile, from SJ to LA, where I worked in the film industry and acted, to Sacramento, where our son Jack was born in 1999, and finally to Spearfish, SD.
Michelle, Jack and I arrived in Spearfish, in August of 2005, at the start of Rally! We love our life in the Black Hills and during our time here, I decided to go back to school (at BHSU) and pursue my secondary education teaching credential, which I received in May, of 2012. I have been working in education in the Black Hills since 2008, as a para-professional (teacher's aide) and have been teaching since 2012. This year, I had the opportunity to become one of the 8th grade English teachers, here at Douglas Middle School! I am stoked for school to start, and am looking forward to meeting all the kids; I absolutely love working with them, they teach me so much and are so creative and full of incredible energy! And so, that is my story ... and I'm sticking to it! I'm proud to be a Patriot and I'll see everyone soon!