Dr. Suprenand became a science teacher because of the influence his grandparents had on him.

“My grandfather and my grandmother were the most amazing people, and they came from very different backgrounds. My grandmother was from a family that was one of the individual owners of PBR [Pabst Blue Ribbon beer] and my grandfather eventually got into Berghoff. My grandfather grew up during the depression. He was so poor that he went into garbage cans and scraped out silver off of gum wrappers so he could actually get money to feed his brothers and sisters, and he had a bunch. 

My grandmother had a little bit of a different life, but when they met it was love at first sight. My grandfather went to college and saw WWII coming, and so he finished college in three years. He graduated college early and decided he didn’t want to be on the front lines so he taught himself French. He became a French interpreter. 

During the Battle of Bastogne, he was one of the few Americans that received the French medal of honor, which is a Medal of Honor awarded by his generals.

When my grandfather came back he was given a full ride to Harvard Law; he had wanted to be a lawyer for a while. My grandmother, also very brilliant, loved to look at the world through God. She and my grandfather were polar opposites when they met. He was very much about God, but he was very creative, and she was very spiritual, but it was a cool combination. 

When my grandmother had both my mother and my uncle, they got tuberculosis, and she didn’t believe in medicine, so my mother checked herself into the convent, and so she wanted to help herself and nuns to pray away the sickness. During the Cold War she almost passed at times, and my grandfather finally said I’m done with the law. 

Their family went on to live a happier and healthier life. For half their lives they were in retirement. They traveled the war constantly, they would tell me about how they scuba dived with the sea lions, hot air balloons in France, and traveled to Australia.The reason I got the travel bug was them. The reason I thought education was important was because it led to all of their phenomenal life opportunities, and it helped them see that there are all of these amazing people and things that are happening simultaneously, where we are not even aware of the things that are happening until they are there, or part of these amazing cultures. I was inspired by both my Grandpa and Grandmother to be both, a scientist and a lover of God, to make a difference in the world, to travel the world to see it, because unless you don’t understand in first account what is happening there, you don’t know how your talent or attention, are going to help, make better, and appreciate all of the beauty around you, from the food to the people.”