We can argue all day about it, but Sommerset, not only was it a place that had so many challenges whether it was violence, prostitution, drugs, guns or whatever, there was still a sense of community love there to make sure that all of us were taken care of. There is that statement that it takes a village. Even though there were a lot of challenges in Sommerset, there were still people who cared about you and loved you and wanted to make sure you were good. To this day, when I go on the south side or I run into people I haven’t seen in 20 years from Sommerset, they give big hugs. Even some of our elders who were in Sommerset at the time, they still remember you. And they’ve seen the news. They’ve seen some of the things that I am doing. It’s like an accomplishment to them also because they played a part. When you think about the Richmonds, the Pollards, the Russells and all of these families were huge in that community. Were they all perfect? Absolutely not.”

Briggs also had help through the staff of some of the prevention programs at the time, Stephen Blue of the Neighborhood Intervention Program and Keith Burkes of the Madison Urban League’s Project Jamaa.

“All of these people played a huge part in making sure that the opportunity was there for some kind of success,” Briggs emphasized. “But it wasn’t like they gave you everything. You had to work for it, to build upon who you wanted to be. What was important was someone believed in me. And I think that is one of the most important things we can do for kids and even staff whom we work with, which is believing in them, making sure that they know we care, that we understand what it is like to go through some challenges and push through those challenges you may face.”

Briggs made it out of the education system almost in spite of the schools that he attended back then.

“I remember when I was in middle school, I was in this classroom and I never came out of it,” Briggs said. “I was in it all day and the only thing I came out for was PE and band. When I turned 37-years-old, I asked my mom, ‘Mom, why didn’t I ever come out of this classroom?’ My mom said, ‘They thought you were mildly retarded.’ Think about my experience. I felt like a caged animal. I couldn’t get out. That put a sour taste in my mouth. That was at Cherokee Heights. And there were other situations in elementary school that caused me to feel a certain way about school. And so I didn’t want to do anything with education or school.”

After Briggs had fallen in love and finished college, his wife got a job teaching at the Milwaukee Academy of Science, a 99 percent African American, 99 percent free and reduced lunch school.

His wife invited Briggs to speak to her class. Briggs was very reluctant, but eventually gave in.

“I went in and the first time, it was like, ‘This ain’t bad,’” Briggs recalled. “And then a few weeks later, she asked me to come back again. I said, ‘Alright I’ll go.’ I went and thought it was pretty cool. And the third time I went, I fell in love with it. I asked myself that critical question, ‘Why aren’t I working with kids?’ To be honest with you, I kind of owe it all to her because if she didn’t trick me into coming into her class — I think she knew I would be someone special with kids — it wouldn’t have happened.”

Briggs didn’t need any persuading after that.

“I ended up taking this cultural liaison position in Verona,” Briggs said. “I was there for three years before they cut that position. I became a program manager at the charter school. In the midst of doing that, I decided I wanted to get a teaching license. I ended up getting a PE in Health teaching license and that took me out to Sun Prairie. I became an assistant principal, then I became the principal at Glendale — now Dr. Virginia Hamilton Elementary — and then back to Sun Prairie to be a principal at an elementary school. From there, I took the position in Middleton as the director of elementary education. I did that for five years and learned a lot of what to do and what not to do as a leader.”

While at Middleton, the Baraboo system — and the superintendent’s job — came looking for Briggs.

“Someone whom I know very well recommended me to the search committee,” Briggs said. “They reached out. I thought about a couple of different things because my motto has always been, ‘Every kid, Every Day, Whatever It Takes.’ When I was getting my doctorate, there was a young man by the name of Nick Halls who was in that cohort with me. And he was the director of teaching and learning in Baraboo. He told me that he was going to take, as they were doing their strategic plan, a piece of my motto. And that was ‘Every Kid, Every Day.’ And their motto is ‘Every Kid, Every Day In Every Way.’ And this is a motto that I have had for 15 years. Now that I look back on it and look at where I landed, I think it was destiny, to be honest with you. Here’s a motto that really lights me up. It lights up my heart. It lights up the community in a way that lets people know that it is about kids. It’s about making sure that we create a generation and the next generation and the next generation in a way that they are going to be productive and global citizens.”

Next issue: Baraboo and Educational Philosophy