Brother Jack Henderson has been named the 2010 Distinguished Lasallian Educator for the District of San Francisco. The award was presented at the Huether Lasallian Conference during an awards banquet which honored exemplary educators from each of the four districts in the United States and Toronto Region. The theme of this year’s Huether is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
In his twenty-four years as a teacher, Brother Jack has devoted his considerable energies to making science, particularly biology, come alive for his students. His classrooms at La Salle High School in Yakima, Washington, teem with living creatures, from squirming pythons and boa constrictors to hairy tarantulas and hissing cockroaches, illustrating his philosophy that science is a study of life, not of preserved specimens. The living classroom exemplifies Brother Jack’s determination to lure students to the fascination of science, and its success is confirmed by a colleague who notes that “most of the life apparent in the room is the buzz of kids engaged in learning.”
Students know Brother Jack as an involved instructor who believes in hands-on learning, from building a radio telescope to studying life in a nearby creek. With lots of demonstrations and dramatic stories to keep their interest involved, Brother Jack works to stimulate critical thinking that will lead to the development of life skills. Every year, he brings honors biology students to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance pathology lab, giving the class real experience in a pathologist’s work and introducing them to career opportunities in science.
It is not just the academic that consumes this dynamic teacher. He is also watchful of students with personal problems. Living out the Founder’s advice to his followers that they should be like older Brothers to their charges, Brother Jack is always ready to support, counsel and comfort young people, even after they have graduated from the school.
Over his career, Brother Jack has taught at several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Justin-Siena High School in Napa, De La Salle High School in Concord, and Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley. But it is the Yakima campus that has provided him with the setting to expand his classroom to the outdoors--what he likes to call “God’s Laboratory”--using the local flora and fauna for study and practical application. In doing so, he has connected his students to the realities and needs of the Yakima region. Together with the Yakama Indian Nation, he has worked to restore the local Coho salmon population with a fish hatchery that is part of his classroom. Beyond including La Salle students, Brother engages Catholic and public elementary students from throughout the valley in this experience.
In addition to teaching biology, environmental and physical science, and sports medicine at the high school, Brother Jack offers his service as an emergency medical technician in the nearby town of Union Gap and volunteers as a firefighter.
His unique and creative science programs, as well as his participation with the Yakima community, set Brother Jack apart as a committed Lasallian educator who touches the hearts and minds of students.
