The Avid Reader

Name: Ryan Dunleavy

Location: Whippany, New Jersey

Relationship to Jessica:  Friend

Jess and I met in elementary school and remained friends.

Jessica & Ryan in High School

© jessicafashano.com

My first memory of Jess isn’t the kind of funny/embarrassing story that high school friends will tell over and over again as the years go by. I have plenty of those, but I prefer this one:

At Salem Drive Elementary School, classes broke into reading groups once a day. I hated reading groups until one day when Jess — who already was known as the smartest kid in class — convinced me otherwise. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I know I’ve always secretly credited her for generating my interest in reading in a way that my teachers could not. I guess I listened to her because her intelligence, maturity and ambition was something to be envious of even back then.

Comment Policy: Thank you for sharing your kind and loving comments. Please use your real name. All comments are moderated and will be approved as soon as possible.

Discussion

  1. Bill Williams says

    Ry – I couldn’t agree more.

    I struggled terribly in our Calc class senior year of high school and wanted nothing to do with it. But it was so incredible to see Jess take a complicated proof and effortlessly draw out the solution on the board. I’ve never seen a person process complex mathematics so well. Jess sparked my interest and encouraged me to keep trying. I ended up becoming a finance major! She really was a motivator.