“I remember a comment from a history class at Central,” says Helzner. “The teacher was talking about how powerful the early popes had been, almost like dictators,"
“So a student raises his hand and asks: ‘So, if the Pope was so powerful then where were the cardinals?’,"
“And a kid in the back of the room yells out: ‘They were in spring training.’”
Helzner says his first teaching assignment was at Wanamaker Junior High in North Philly.
“I was teaching a class of 7th graders when I noticed a cute little kid, wearing a suit jacket and a bow tie, and he was munching on a packet of peanut butter crackers,"
“I said, 'Tyrone Sunkett, what are you doing back there?'. He calmly walked up to me, dug into his pants pocket, and pulled out a crinkled old piece of paper,"
“It was a note that read: ‘Please allow Tyrone to eat at this time. His Mother.’
It looked like something he had been carrying around since second grade.
“So, I confiscated the note and was hard pressed to keep from laughing out loud.”