By Zack Anchors
Staff writer
Scarborough teacher Tom Griffin was nominated for the Leader's Great Person Award by Scarborough resident Dan Warren, who praised Griffin for being an "inspiring teacher" and for his coaching and involvement in a range of community service activities. Evidently, lots of other Scarborough residents are equally impressed with Griffin's contributions to the community. A few hundred people took the time to send in ballots in support of his nomination.
There is no doubt that during his 20 years teaching at Scarborough Middle School, Griffin has had an impact on a great many students. But what makes Griffin especially qualified for the Great Person title is all he has done beyond the ordinary demands of his job. In Griffin’s health education classes, he emphasizes to students the importance of community service and the benefits that come from getting involved in one’s community. In his own life, Griffin has served as a strong example of what he teaches, whether it is through coaching softball, organizing the AIDS bike/walk-a-thon, advising the Builder's Club, planning after school activities with parents or leading the Scarborough Dribblettes.
“My message is for everyone to find something that they enjoy and to somehow share it with the community and use it to give back to the community,” said Griffin. “All the things that I do are all things that I enjoy doing – all these things are fun.”
Griffin grew up in Portland and graduated from Deering High School before heading to the University of Maine. He says his parents, who just moved to Florida last week, provided a model for him of being an active member of a community.
“My father was the type of guy who was just always helping,” said Griffin. “Both my parents were, and still are, giving and generous people.”
When Griffin headed to the University of Maine at Orono, he was originally unsure what he wanted to study. He knew he was good at math and he was told that the civil engineering department would suit him well.
“I didn’t even know what civil engineering was,” said Griffin.
Griffin had never considered the possibility of being an elementary education teacher –particularly since all his teachers as a child had been women. But after realizing that civil engineering was not for him and meeting other guys who were studying to become teachers, he began heading along the path of becoming an elementary physical education teacher.
The other main attraction of college for Griffin was baseball, which he played at UMO.
“I had aspirations to be a Major League player,” said Griffin. “I just couldn’t throw the ball fast enough, though.”
After college, Griffin got a job teaching physical education at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf on Mackworth Island.
“I had never talked to a deaf person in my life,” said Griffin. “I really didn’t know what I was getting into.”
Learning how to effectively communicate with the deaf children was difficult for Griffin at first. He remembers his first day on the job when he took the kids to a field to play with balls but could not figure out how to call them back together after they spread out chasing the balls everywhere.
“Eventually I learned sign language – the kids taught me,” said Griffin.
After five years at the Baxter school, Griffin decided to move on and got offered a job at Scarborough Middle School. He said his experiences at the Baxter school have helped him at his current job.
“At the Baxter School, every class you had some students with very challenging physical and emotional problems and dealing with that every day was very difficult,” said Griffin. “Having that background makes working with these kids in Scarborough easy. These kids are great – they’re just really respectful.”
Griffin has been teaching health education at Scarborough Middle School for 20 years now. When he first started, the school was one of the very few middle schools in the state to have a health education program. Now it is a state requirement. Griffin said other things have changed over the years too.
“The curriculum is always changing and the schedule is always changing, which is a challenge,” said Griffin. “But one big difference is how the technology has changed. The laptops have allowed us to be more creative with research. We’re also doing a lot more group projects now and having the students teach the materials. A lot more of it is student-directed now.”
As a health education teacher, Griffin sees his role as more than just teaching about specific health-related issues. He said he tries to provide resources for his students so they are prepared for a wide range of issues they will have to deal with during their lives.
“It’s not feasible to think you can go in there and scare kids into not doing certain things,” said Griffin. “Instead, I’m trying to build a foundation for kids to make healthy decisions in their lives.”
One part of Griffin’s class involves the students devising some kind of community service project. Students might clean up a beach, visit a nursing home, work at an animal shelter or volunteer at a soup kitchen. A few of the projects that Griffin’s classes started have turned into ongoing annual events, like the Ed Wimert Memorial Bike/Walk-a-Thon, which for 16 years has raised money for people living with HIV and AIDS, and Project Cupid, in which students put together Valentine’s Day packages for soldiers overseas.
Griffin is quick to point out that in all the activities he is involved with he's just one of many people who pull things off. He says that his fellow teachers Dave Currier and Denise Lockman have been essential in keeping the bike/walk-a-thon going. Griffin works with the Builder’s Club, a student organization that meets every Wednesday to work on community service projects, but he says that local Kiwanis Club members Jim Damicis and Ken Simons have devoted lots of energy to helping the students too. Griffin coaches softball at the high school and he says that his fellow coaches Charlie Andreson, Dani Kline and Doug Williams are “three wonderful people who give lots of time in support of the team.”
One of the most unique programs Griffin is involved with is the Scarborough Dribblettes – a group of young elementary school girls that put on dribbling performances. For the past several years, the group has traveled to UConn basketball games to perform. Griffin started the Dribblettes when his own daughter Kelsey was playing basketball as a girl. He knew of a similar program in Westbrook and thought it would be a good way to boost girl’s confidence and improve their dribbling skills.
“I knew that if it was opened to boys they would just dominate so we made it girls only,” said Griffin. “At first it was like pulling teeth trying to get kids to sign up. But once they saw us perform, everything changed and people started to get it. Ever since we’ve had a waiting list.”
Griffin said Scarborough resident Ian Engleman has also been very helpful in running the Dribblettes program, which had its highest level of participation this year.
“To me, everybody wins – that’s the best thing about the Dribblettes.”
Griffin’s daughter Kelsey is now studying to become an elementary education teacher at Iona College. Griffin and his wife Mary also have two sons – Michael, a sophomore at Springfield College and Sean, a freshman at Scarborough High School.
“All of them are involved with sports,” said Griffin. “Either we’re doing some community service project or we’re off to a ball game.”