To the Journal editor:

This letter is from Wesley Ray Vear, Kinsey Ray Vear, and Logan Ray Vear in support of our mother’s campaign for the Board of Education for the Marquette Area Public Schools.

Despite obvious conflicts of interest, we would like to highlight key values that one might only know if she raised you. She knows the capacity that adolescents have to contribute to the world and she is open to new ideas because she’s continually learning and growing herself.

Most of us have gotten in trouble as kids. We were no different. We made plenty of mistakes. One of the defining characteristics with Jen Ray as your mother, is that she works through it with you. She treated our missteps as an opportunity for us both to grow and learn together.

As she explained why something was wrong, she treated the process as a conversation that allowed us to take a role in deciding the best path forward.

She approaches education in a similar collaborative fashion and understands that it is a team effort between both educators and students. She understands that young students offer invaluable insights into what works best for them to learn.

Our mother knows that learning is a life-long process and we have been lucky to learn and grow alongside her. As one example, we have spent much of this year learning about many social justice issues and our relationships to them.

We have similarly seen her learn more and more from the students with whom she interacts about the history of indiginous peoples within the U.S. and how systems continue to harm them. She searches out new resources and takes each situation as an opportunity to learn with compassion and an open mind.

She understands that many of the issues that our society is working through are directly impacted by the education of its youth by both the content and the learning environment. She will be there learning right alongside our Marquette students.

Speaking as two medical students and an engineer, we have spent many years in school and our successes would not have been possible without our mother instilling in us a love of learning. We cannot wait to see how she works to also instill that within our Marquette education system.

Please reach out with any questions about growing up with Jen Ray as a mother and lifelong educator.

Wesley Ray Vear, Kinsey Ray Vear, Logan Ray Vear

Marquette