Mr. Burrow specialized in math and languages in high school. He took four years of Spanish, two years of French, the equivalent of seven years of math, and almost no courses in science or the humanities. Fortunately this was before there were lots of specific requirements for college admission.

Coming from a family of educators, it was just assumed that Mr. Burrow would do well in school.  However, there was never any pressure to get specific grades or to take particular classes.  His parents also didn't set a lot of specific rules for him, though he was a general expectation that he would behave well.  

Today Mr. Burrow's students sometimes ask him if he drank or used drugs in high school.  He can honestly answer "no" to those questions, though not because he made any conscious choice to "just say no".  It was just a different time and place.  The majority of students at his high school (including pretty much everyone he associated with) didn't drink.  A lot of people he knew used drugs of various types, but he never felt any real pressure to do so himself.

During high school, Mr. Burrow earned money for college by working at the Iris Restaurant, which was then Mt. Pleasant's best dining establishment. He started as a dishwasher, and later was a busboy and a cook. At times he even filled in as a waiter and host/cashier. The job he took became open after much of the staff left following a murder at the restaurant (a waitress had been clubbed with a wine bottle, one of a series of bizarre murders that happened in Mt. Pleasant in the late '70s). In spite of the strange circumstances, he loved the job. He especially liked his co-workers, and joking around with them made him a more socially competent person.

Another of his activities was the "Big Brothers/Big Sisters" program. He was proud to be a big brother for a little boy whose parents had committed him to a mental hospital. He kept in touch with his little brother into college, but then lost touch with him. He still wonders what ever happened to Clyde, who would be in his late 30s now.

Mr. Burrow received many awards at MPHS. He graduated sixth in his class (after five 4.0 students) in May, 1980, and his diploma bore special seals of the National Honor Society, the National Forensic League, and the Quill and Scroll Society. He received a special awards for service and citizenship at graduation. The Class of 1979 voted him the "Outstanding Junior Boy" at their graduation, and his own classmates voted him the "Boy Most Likely to Succeed" in the Class of 1980.

David Burrow, when he was
a student at Lincoln School

part of a newspaper spread with a four-leaf clover
of pictures saluting National 4-H Week

Artwork prepared by David Burrow's "little brother" Clyde
from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program

Mr. Burrow in the maroon and gold
cap and gown of Mt. Pleasant High School

The high school Mr. Burrow attended.
It is now the Mt. Pleasant Civic Center.

Links to other sites on the Web

Mr. Burrow's High School Yearbook Photos
NEXT (Camping Trips)
Mt. Pleasant Community Schools
City of Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce
Iowa Wesleyan College (Mt. Pleasant, IA)
Channel 6 (KWQC, formerly WOC-TV)
A Presidential Classroom for Young Americans
Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America
HOME

© 2009 davidmburrow@yahoo.com

The background music on this page is Olivia Newton-John's first hit, "Let Me Be There". Like most teenage boys of the '70s, David Burrow had a crush on Olivia, and this was his favorite song as a boy. It remains one of his favorite songs today, and he still thinks that for a woman her age, Olivia Newton-John is hot.

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