Personal Education Reflection Timeline: ED 500

By michaelbrunovsky
  • Period: to

    Personal Education Timeline

  • Father born in Piestany, Czecho-Slovakia

    My father is an immigrant to the USA. This is significant for my education background, since I was brought up in a strict, no-nonsense atmosphere, with empahsis on achievement and hard work.

  • FDR inaugurated as president of the USA

    FDR represented help for the working man at the height of the Great Depression, the greatest economic crisis in modern world history.

  • Height of the Great Depression

    This tragedy was not just in the USA but was a world-wide phenomenon. In Europe, my father's family was large and lower middle class due to the fact that his father was a construction laborer.

  • World War II begins in Europe

  • Mother born in Cleveland, Ohio

    My mother was born in the USA into a middle-class family that was very religious. But her being born during the war made her upbringing frugal and industrious.

  • Japanese attack Pearl Harbor; US enters World War II

  • VJ Day; End of US involvement in World War II

  • Truman "Containment Doctrine" solidifies the Cold War

  • Czecho-Slovakia falls under communist domination

    This series of events would mean that my father would be drafted into a communist military force as soon as he turned 18, which would be in September.

  • Alger Hiss convicted by House Committee on Un-American Activities

    He was convicted of being a communist agent with Richard Nxon as a committee member.

  • Father graduates from town gymnasium

  • Father escapes to POW camp in West Germany

  • Father emmigrates to Canada

  • Senator McCarthy attacks "communists" in the US armed forces

  • Brown vs. Board of Education ends school segregation

  • Little Rock 9 integrate high school

  • Father moves to USA and Cleveland

  • Mother graduates from St. Procop High School

  • MoTown Record Corporation founded

  • March on Washington (MLK)

  • JFK assassinated in Dallas, Texas

  • Parents married in Cleveland

  • LBJ declares "War on Poverty"

  • Michael born in Cleveland

    I am the eldest of four children.

  • Malcolm X assassinated

  • Prague Spring begins

    With this "relaxation" in communist policies, my father was able to return to his family for a visit in July.

  • Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, TN

  • RFK assassinated in Los Angeles, CA

  • Prague Spring ends with USSR invasion

    My father would not be permitted back into the country until the fall of communism in 1989.

  • First Lunar Landing (Apollo 11)

  • Enter Kindergarten at age 5

  • Our family moves from Cleveland's east side to the suburbs.

    I was placed in a new school with a very different atmosphere that I enjoyed. The difference in my experience was very welcome.

  • Enter first grade at St. Columbkille grade school in Parma

  • Made First Communion through grade school instruction

  • 1972 Presidential Election

    During the campaign of 1972, we had an assignment in social studies to choose a winner. It was the first time I paid any attention to an election and I remember predicting Nixon would win. It began a life-long interest in politics.

  • LBJ funeral seen in school on TV

  • Began private piano lessons.

  • Resignation of President Richard Nixon

  • End of Vietnam War

  • Began paper delivery route; did this through 1980.

  • Washington DC trip with 8th grade classmates begins.

    A great trip that only heightened my fascination with history and politics.

  • Graduation from 8th grade and St. Columbkille grade school

  • Began cello lessons for school orchestra

  • Began studies at Padua Franciscan High School

  • Pope John Paul II elected

    It was amazing to me to follow the events of the previous pope's death, the 30-day pontificate of John Paul I and the election of the first Polish pope in history.

  • First service project to help the "underpriveleged"

  • Became employed by Rini-Rego incorporated and a "union man"

  • First foray onto the east side of Cleveland for academic sessions

    I was a member of the social studies club, and I remember getting lost on the east side and how "horrific" this was for myself and other school members since we were from the west side.

  • Graduation from Padua Franciscan High School

  • First day at JCU

  • Enter the Benedictine Order of Cleveland

  • profess first vows as a Benedictine

  • Resume studies at JCU

  • my first multi-cultural education class begins at JCU

  • Graduation from JCU (BA)

  • begin Student Teaching at Benedictine

  • profess final vows with the Benedictines

  • Begin seminary studies at St. John's (MN)

  • Graduate from St. John's; ordained priest

  • First faculty meeting as full time teacher

  • become moderator of the student council

  • become social studies department chair

  • named academic dean of BHS

  • begin duties as academic dean

  • begin MEd studies at JCU