Sidelight: Chris Gdowski

SIDELIGHT

In summer 1977, Chris Gdowski was a 10-year-old collecting tossed aluminum cans at a nearby park to earn redemption money to buy baseball cards. But those early mornings became more than a money-making endeavor when Gdowski realized what was among that refuse — limited-edition Pepsi cans featuring players from his long-time favorite basketball team, the Denver Nuggets, who had won the NBA’s Midwest Division in 1976-77. The superintendent of the Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colo., remembers finding the last one. “I was so stoked,” says Gdowski, who displayed the collection to his staff in the past year as the Nuggets vied for an NBA championship. The collection remains a reminder that even the youngest students can harbor big passions, a point he uses when reminding teachers to get to know their students beyond test scores. Gdowski is a 13-year AASA member.