San Marino is typically characterized by its “wide streets” and “carefully manicured lawns,” but those features – and just about every other aspect of life that was familiar for San Marino native Kirk Pastre – has changed drastically.
Pastre, a 2007 graduate and 4-sport letterwinner at San Marino High School, recently signed on to teach math at Uncommon Schools Leadership Prep Ocean Hill, a middle school located in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn that was home to Mike Tyson, Al Sharpton and Larry King.
Aside from the mere geographical span, the differences between the two locales are striking. According to the most recent census, Brownsville has 58,300 people packed inside the 1.163 square miles contained within its borders, which qualifies our town as comparatively “sprawling,” as only 13,147 reside within the 3.77 square miles known as San Marino. Brownsville has 14 times as many people per square mile.
Shortly before noon on each school day, vans arrive in front of San Marino High School loaded with pre-purchased gourmet lunches which are prepared specifically to the desires of the teenagers who flock to pick them up.
At Leadership Prep – a public charter school – more than 80% of the students eat a lunch that is provided by the government’s free and reduced lunch program.
“If you count the students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches, that would probably bring us up to over 90%,” Pastre said.
A 15-minute subway ride has replaced the short drive across Monterey Rd. he made each day in a Tournament of Roses special edition 1990 Chrysler LeBaron convertible that was once owned by his grandfather, Thornton Hamlin, who was President of the Tournament in 1983, presiding over the parade and ‘Grandaddy of Them All’ football game. Like most things now, it’s a drastically different journey.
“Every day on the way to school I walk under a train tunnel,” Pastre explained. “Once every couple of weeks, I see something…well, alarming.”
But he serves of his own accord. The decision to relocate was all his own, even if it resulted from, shall we say, extenuating circumstances.
“A couple years ago, over the course of 6 months, a lot happened,” he explained. “A friend of mine who I had lived with was killed. Then [SMHS graduate] Manny Vargas died. Then Joe McMahon was killed. This really caused me to reflect on myself. It made me wonder how I could grow my abilities and skills and what is the best way I can do that? I thought ‘I have no idea what it is like to be disadvantaged or black or Latino.’ So I thought I would throw myself in and just figure it out. I’m 27. When am I ever going to be able to do this again?”
Pastre graduated from Moravian College – where he played football and baseball – in 2011 with a degree in history. The travel bug has bitten Pastre previously, as he taught in Chile in 2013.
“I have wanted to be a teacher since 4th grade,” he said. “After I had Mr. [Steve] Ford for U.S. History at San Marino High School, it solidified my desire to teach and coach. Teaching in Chile was a way I could put off grad school to get my teaching credential but still build my resume. It was a phenomenal experience and I learned a lot. I never learn much in the classroom but instead learn by living and experiencing something. It’s important for me to see life from the perspective of others. It’s how I believe we all grow our understanding of not only one’s self, but also how other people struggle and thrive. It’s easy to assume things about people or places, but when you meet someone who is a minority, or someone from another country, you understand their struggle. I think it’s important for people to get outside of their comfort zone before they make judgments.”
Pastre said that during his early days in Chile he was viewed “as an outsider” by the people in his community, few of whom spoke English.
Pastre then received the opportunity to learn at the feet of his mentor when he student-taught with Ford during the 2015-16 school year at San Marino High School. He also served as an assistant coach for the record-setting 2015 Titan football team which finished 15-1 and advanced to the State Small Schools championship game in Sacramento, where the squad suffered its only loss of the season.
“As the youngest in my family, I never had a younger sibling which I suppose is why I pour so much of myself into the kids I interact with,” said Pastre. “Especially the footballing senior class of 2015. We went through it all together and I’d run through several brick walls for all those kids. Same with my kids now. I answer multiple phone calls each night from students asking questions about their homework. Anything I can do to make our kids from San Marino or Brooklyn be more successful, that’s what I want to do.”
Pastre teaches 7th grade math at the public charter school that was founded four years ago. The student body is 95% African American and 5% Hispanic and most live in the nearby housing projects. The institution is overseen by Uncommon Schools, which starts and manages 49 high-performing urban public charter schools whose mission is to “close the achievement gap and prepare over 16,000 low-income students to enter, succeed in, and graduate from college.” It appears to be working. Last year, a full 100% of its students were accepted to a 4-year college.
Pastre said the work “is hard as hell,” but that he also receives “tons of support” from the school’s administration in what he called “a very intense environment with exceptionally high standards.”
“I have absolutely no desire to be anywhere else,” he added. “I work a lot and I stay after school helping individual kids with questions. I wake up and get to school early as students start showing up at 7:15, so they have time to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. I can also practice because it’s vital to know one’s lesson cold so I can focus my attention on my students rather than think on the fly. But the simple, light-bulb-going-on moment, when a kid has been consistently struggling with a problem and it finally clicks, it’s awesome. It’s so powerful.”
His fellow teachers slapped the “Pastor Kirk” moniker on the son of Gioia and Larry Pastre given that their family name rhymes with the religious title.
“My co-workers will say ‘Pastor Kirk, what are you preaching about? Preach, Pastor Kirk!’ We have a good time,” he said, growing emotional at the thought.
Kirk lives in Bushwick, which he described as “an up-and-coming hipster neighborhood,” with a former Moravian baseball teammate.
He might return to coaching next year, but for the moment, Kirk is “doing what I am doing right now.”
“I see the daily struggle many of these kids go through and I want to help them in any way I can,” said Pastre.
Apparently, it’s as simple as that.
