Darrell Gray retired from Hughes Aircraft in the year 2000. After sitting at home watching television for a month he decided that he'd rather be busy. He had been volunteering with RSVP while he was still at Hughes. He used to work with some kids after work at a church on Artesia. However, when he retired he started volunteering on a pretty steady basis by working at Hull Middle School until the time that a school bond issue failed to pass. When that happened, some of the Hull teachers started leaving for work elsewhere. Two of them came over to Jefferson Middle School in 2007 and asked Darrell if he could join them there. Darrell said that he has been there ever since.

He's now at Jefferson every day and tells me that he puts in between 150 and 160 hours there every month! Even after his stint at Jefferson he told me that he sometimes goes to help some of the kids at the South-East Torrance Branch Library, not getting home until after 7:00 in the evening on some days. He said that his kids used to go to Hull Middle School and, and this seemed to be a natural place to start his full time volunteering after retiring from Hughes. While there he worked with the 6th grade math class and did algebra with an 8th grade class as well as pre-algebra with a 7th grade class. He now does similar work at Jefferson, just walking around the classroom and helping out students when they get into difficulty and the teacher is otherwise occupied. Darrell currently works with three teachers (two 6th grade and an 8th grade algebra teacher). He said that the teachers are so dedicated that it is really a pleasure to work with them.

I asked him if the students have any special name for him and Darell smiled and said that, although he was sure that they had, he hadn't been told. He mentioned that one of the teachers he works with was still in college at Long Beach State when he was at Hull and that he's known her for a very long time.

Darrell said that the past nine years have been more enjoyable than anything he's done in his whole life. He told me that he sees kids that have been struggling with a problem and then you see the light "pop on" when they finally understand what he is explaining to them. As an example he told me about a boy who had approached him at the library. The student was having a real problem understanding how to solve polynomials, and was very fearful of an exam that was going to be held the following day. Darrell worked with him through 40-50 problems and, the next day the student proudly told him that he had scored 92% on the test! Darrell appreciates the problems that these kids face, as he was a slow learner himself when he was at school, particularly in the fields of math and reading. He said that it gives him a warm fuzzy feeling to see them "get it" and to know that he has been a part of that success.

He commented that the kids didn't really understand why he spends so much time with them while not getting paid. However, he tells them that, although he is retired, he gets paid in a greater way than by getting a monetary reward for his efforts when he sees the results that occur.