By Paul Losch
About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mai...
(More)About this blog: I was a "corporate brat" growing up and lived in different parts of the country, ending in Houston, Texas for high school. After attending college at UC Davis, and getting an MBA at Harvard, I embarked on a marketing career, mainly in the Bay Area with different companies. My former wife went back to medical school after we had been married a few years, and we moved into married student housing at Stanford, had our two now adult children while she was a medical student, and moved into Palo Alto when she started her Residency. Been here ever since. As my kids were going through the Palo Alto schools, I was actively involved in their activities, most notably head umpire for Palo Alto Little League and 9 years as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, among other activities. My kids both are grown, my son teaches 5th grade locally, and my daughter, fluent in Mandarin, is working in China. I sold the business I owned and ran for 8 years in 2012, worked on the Obama campaign, and am consulting for non-profit organizations, which gives me a nice, flexible schedule. Lots of stamps in my passport, and for fun, I like live performances &emdash; theater and music - and of course the Giants!
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My son Nathan, a 2005 PALY grad, and I went to San Jose Saturday evening to watch the PALY girls volleyball team against Long Beach's "POLY" team compete for the State title in Division 1. Our girls won in a very exciting contest that really was down to the wire. Best of 5, in Game 5, PALY won 17-15. Very exciting and a marvelous evening all around.
My youngest finished at PALY in 2008, so I have not been as engaged with the school since then. What struck me last night was the huge turnout of PALY fans for the girls, great enthusiasm for the Volleyball program--I wish I owned the company that produced all the various T-Shirts that people were wearing in support of the team!
It really is awesome to have such a high caliber of athleticism in a high school that also is ranked as one of the best in terms of academics. My son pointed out that the two are not mutually exclusive, he is correct, and sad to say in many schools one comes at the expense of the other.
It also is awesome how this affects our connections with each other in the Palo Alto community. We are blessed to have such great programs such as AYSO, Little League, Softball, Middle School sports, and fine high school teams. Certainly my connections with this town came about in no small part as a result of my kids participating in such activities, and the adult friends I made along the way.
So, 2 celebrations: the PALY Girls State Championship in Volleyball, and how this sort of event helps add to the "glue" that makes us a community in Palo Alto.
