Richard Albistegui Dubois
Richard was born in Topeka, and attended Shawnee Country Day School (the former name of Topeka Collegiate School) from 4th to 8th grade. He then went to Topeka High School, graduating in 1992. Realizing that Kansas wasn't the best place for someone who wanted to study octopus intelligence, he moved to the semi-mythical land of California, earning a bachelor's degree in marine biology in 1996. Unfortunately, by that time, he had realized that nobody would actually *pay* him to study octopus intelligence, so he went to UCLA to study human brains instead.
He received a doctorate in neuroscience from UCLA in 2004. While there, though, he found that teaching young college students was his favorite thing to do. He is now a professor of physiology at Palomar Community College in north San Diego county, which is his favorite job so far - even better than pizza delivery driving.
Let me give you a little additional information about Richard. Imagine, if you will, withdrawing your two children from public school and enrolling them in a one-year old school whose total enrollment in PK – 8th grade is 70 students. I call this the “pioneer spirit” which really was the hallmark of all our early families. Richard graduated with a total in his class of 8 students. He was a leader on my Mathcounts team, which placed 3rd in the state. Our entire middle school of @30 students (in 5th – 8th grade) produced the Gilbert and Sullivan musical The Pirates of Penzance, in which Richard played a lead singing role of the Pirate King. Richard went on to play King Arthur in Camelot his senior year at Topeka High.
But beyond his intellect and his talents, what I recall most of Richard is his inquisitive mind, his quick wit, his humility, the kindness of his heart, the depth of his character, and the pure delight of his essence. He was, in fact, the recipient of our only major award, the Mac Rives. He was and is the epitome of a Mac Rives scholar, characterized as having the “mind of a scientist, the heart of a poet, and the ways of a gentle person.”