Greetings Olympians!!!
Hello, my name is Richard Clapper and my close friends and family call me Kenny. I'm very excited to start my second year at Plato Academy! I had been working the last 12 years for another local Charter School and wanted to make a change. I previously have worked in Panama City as well as a teacher training school located in Tampa Florida. I graduated from the University of South Florida, where I was lucky enough to participate in an overseas study program, where we did a full internship teaching at an elementary school in Cambridge England. I've been blessed in my teaching career and have been recognized four separate times by the State of Florida, for having the highest gains in the State on the FCAT and FSA test, out of all charter school math teachers in the State.
Prior to teaching, I was struggling for many years with rehabilitation from a couple of bad motorcycle accidents. I was first Bayflighted by helicopter in1992 and made the St. Pete Times, when someone cut in front of me, causing me to crash into them and projecting me 63 feet through the air, so high that I almost hit the stop light. I was young and recovered rather well from my injuries. I was not so lucky when I had the second motorcycle accident. During this accident, I was run off the road and into a speed limit sign pole. Again, the Bayflight helicopter came to take me to a hospital that has a trauma unit. I broke my skull and wore a halo brace for approximately 8 months. I also sustained numerous amounts of injuries to my right leg and it was almost removed. I was in a wheel chair for the next three years and have had multiple surgeries, including a total knee replacement. I struggle with pain to this day, but I am very happy to be living a normal life, plus I'm the only person in Florida to earn frequent flyer miles with the Bayflight team!
After a short marriage, I have relocated my elderly father to Florida to help with his daily care. We live in Palm Harbor and we enjoy the Florida lifestyle. I enjoy being outside and taking my dog Bodhi over to my friends house to play with his doggy friends on the weekends. The best quote that I live my life by comes from Vince Lombardi and it states, "no matter what obstacles you may face in life, if you want to get a job done bad enough, you'll find a way to get it done"!
Hello, my name is Richard Clapper and my close friends and family call me Kenny. I'm very excited to start my second year at Plato Academy! I had been working the last 12 years for another local Charter School and wanted to make a change. I previously have worked in Panama City as well as a teacher training school located in Tampa Florida. I graduated from the University of South Florida, where I was lucky enough to participate in an overseas study program, where we did a full internship teaching at an elementary school in Cambridge England. I've been blessed in my teaching career and have been recognized four separate times by the State of Florida, for having the highest gains in the State on the FCAT and FSA test, out of all charter school math teachers in the State.
Prior to teaching, I was struggling for many years with rehabilitation from a couple of bad motorcycle accidents. I was first Bayflighted by helicopter in1992 and made the St. Pete Times, when someone cut in front of me, causing me to crash into them and projecting me 63 feet through the air, so high that I almost hit the stop light. I was young and recovered rather well from my injuries. I was not so lucky when I had the second motorcycle accident. During this accident, I was run off the road and into a speed limit sign pole. Again, the Bayflight helicopter came to take me to a hospital that has a trauma unit. I broke my skull and wore a halo brace for approximately 8 months. I also sustained numerous amounts of injuries to my right leg and it was almost removed. I was in a wheel chair for the next three years and have had multiple surgeries, including a total knee replacement. I struggle with pain to this day, but I am very happy to be living a normal life, plus I'm the only person in Florida to earn frequent flyer miles with the Bayflight team!
After a short marriage, I have relocated my elderly father to Florida to help with his daily care. We live in Palm Harbor and we enjoy the Florida lifestyle. I enjoy being outside and taking my dog Bodhi over to my friends house to play with his doggy friends on the weekends. The best quote that I live my life by comes from Vince Lombardi and it states, "no matter what obstacles you may face in life, if you want to get a job done bad enough, you'll find a way to get it done"!