Welcome to another jaunt down Lincoln Charter's memory lane. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and managed to keep your sanity while cooped up during Mother Nature's icy antics.

I gave a good bit of thought to where I wanted to take us on our next adventure regarding the birth of LCS. If you read the first few segments, you'll remember I shared my history with our school and then focused on Mrs. Hargrove's perspective on the beginnings of our school, as we are both LCS Lifers.

A thought then occurred to me: Lincoln Charter could not and would not exist without YOU, the parents!

Did you know that our amazing custodian at the Lincolnton Campus, Susan Bandy, has been with us for 18 years? She does an absolutely phenomenal job keeping our campus immaculate on a daily basis and is always willing to help wherever needed.

Susan is also a parent to an LCS student who attended Lincoln Charter's Lincolnton Campus in our school's formative years. I sat down with her to ask about her thoughts on the founding of our school and what made her select LCS for her daughter.

Here are a few takeaways:

Q: Who is Susan Bandy? Tell us a bit about your hobbies/interests.

A: "I've been with Lincoln Charter as an employee for 18 years. I love animals and riding motorcycles and being around children."

Q: How did you become a 'founding' parent of LCS?

A: "I had family members that had gotten accepted into LCS, my niece and nephew. Once they had gotten accepted through the lottery process and explained more about the opportunity a charter school could afford, I was sold."

Q: What was it specifically about LCS that you liked, maybe as compared to other more traditional schools in the area at that time?

A: "I really believe the approach toward education and education of the individual child was attractive to me. It was a much smaller environment in the early years and a more one on one type of instruction for children to receive individualized attention. I still tell people that to this day. Even though we've grown immensely, I still see the approach toward helping individual students and children where they need to be helped most."

Q: Anything you'd like to share from our early days that, from a parents perspective, seemed to make an impact?

A: "School uniforms were a concept that I really, really appreciated having especially at the elementary level. I feel that his allowed students and families to come into an environment on a more "level" playing field so to speak…not worrying about this label or that label on a piece of clothing. I'm glad this has remained a standard through the years within the elementary program. Also, we had no buses for transportation in the early days of LCS. Many parents would gather in our car rider line every afternoon and form a bond by chatting and getting to know each other better. This only added to the family feel and close knit community vibes that LCS was known for."

As you can see, LCS would not be the same without the Susan Bandys of this world. Lincoln Charter would not be here today without you, the parents! If you happen to see Susan on campus, thank her for being a pioneering parent and for her continued dedication to Lincoln Charter.

Up next: The birth of our Denver Campus and the journey to our first graduating class at LCS! I hope you'll continue on the journey with me. Until next time, Eagle Nation!