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Once upon a time, there was a fellow called Bruce who was raised to be a good student.

Every day, he completed his homework and studied hard so he could earn the best grades possible.  However, there was one subject that always gave him fits – English.  It was not like math or science, where proper formulas and memorized theories could almost guarantee a good outcome.  Even with a stimulating writing assignment, good grammar and sentence structure was a challenge for him.  His work was returned full of red marks, and his hope for straight A’s was ruined by English.  Whether primary or secondary school, undergraduate or graduate study, English was his downfall.

One day, he decided to do something different.  He stopped his educational pursuits to test his career potential outside of academia.  A series of unfulfilling jobs convinced him he had chosen the wrong field of study – Geology was a science but there was still an element of art buried within it.

Because of this, he returned to college and earned a different degree, in Accounting.  It led to a career in the financial services industry and a professional license that allowed him to advance in responsibility (and incidentally helped him to improve his writing skills).

Until finally, when serendipity led Bruce and his partner, Basil, to the Denver Branch of the English-Speaking Union, their lives were changed.  They met a new group of friends, people they felt comfortable with who invited them to help an unlikely audience – English students and teachers.  

The centenary of the ESUUS and the 90th anniversary of the Denver Branch are special times to celebrate the many ESU friends they have met and all the events they have experienced:  Regional, National and World conferences; Queen’s birthdays, Wrench speakers and Page scholars; Shakespeare competitions, BUSS/TLab fellows, and Denver writing competitions. These celebrations are also moments to wonder what the future holds, what the next chapter of the story might be.