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Endorsement Letter: Gucciardi for schools

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Staff

We need MaryAnne Gucciardi on the school board. If anyone understands the transformative power of education, it’s MaryAnne.

She and I grew up under similar circumstances in Massachusetts. I spent the first 10 years of my life living on the third floor of a cold-water walkup. My parents were both Italian immigrants. My father came to this country, alone, early in the 20th century, endowed with a fifth-grade education, $50 in his pocket and no knowledge of English.
MaryAnne’s grandfather came from pre-war Trapani, Sicily and grew up in dire poverty. He too came to this country virtually penniless, but with boundless energy and with a gusto for hard work. In the fullness of time, he found a job as a ditch digger, and family lore has it that he worked on the campus of Harvard University. MaryAnne’s grandmother found work in a garment factory in Boston in what were most likely sweat-shop conditions.

MaryAnne went to high school in Medford, Mass. in an environment, sadly, of drugs and weapons, and, notwithstanding, finished fourth in her class of 1,100 and was admitted to Wellesley College and to Harvard Business School. She is a successful entrepreneur, a founder, together with her husband, Rick Waechter, of an English/Mandarin bilingual school that enrolls 250 students. Earlier, she founded from scratch the Pacific Rim Trading Company and ran it for 13 years.

It’s clear what MaryAnne brings to the party. Her flier says, “Elevating academic achievement in the face of growth and steep budget cuts is our greatest challenge.” Who better to confront that challenge than someone who knows what it’s like to grow up in humble circumstances, who has co-founded a school and who has managed a successful business? To all readers of this letter: please vote for MaryAnne Gucciardi for school board. We need her.

ROBERT MARIO VENTRE, Chapel Hill

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