If you have ever walked the halls of Tumwater High School, you may have encountered a man of distinctive personality. Perhaps a ‘Caffey Loves Me’ sticker has found its way into your hand. You may have even caught yourself thinking a time or two, “There is a guy just being himself. I want more of that!”
South Puget Sound Community College Alumni and Tumwater High School Counselor, Todd Caffey, is that guy. He is the unlikely hero in a storyline all too familiar to many – a story they struggle to find the end to.
“Quite honestly, I had a rough time in high school,” admitted Caffey. “I was even encouraged at one point by my vice principal to drop out my senior year due to my attendance. I remember my dad always telling me though – college, college, college. I knew I had to go.”
Caffey found his way to South Puget Sound Community College during a time in his life when addiction had become a driving force and road block between who he was and who he wanted to become.
“I almost didn’t finish,” he admitted, “but I got sober and somewhere along the way discovered a passion for social service.”
“Our college system is set up in such an amazing way for students,” Caffey continues. “Where you are today isn’t where you will always have to be. And colleges like South Puget Sound help us see beyond today and what may or may not happen and instead, seize the opportunities that are waiting for us.”
During his time at South Puget Sound, Caffey did just that – seizing the opportunities and help that offered themselves along the way. But how does someone who has achieved so much in the face of adversity explain to teenagers that, yes, it really will be okay in the end?
“Students come in to my office often discouraged about their grades or other struggles they are working to overcome. I just reach into my desk drawer and pull out my own High School Diploma. My G.P.A.? 2.2. Yet I graduated from SPSCC, Evergreen, University of Puget Sound and now hold a Masters in Education. These are awesome things! How does this happen?” Caffey says with a grin.
“I use my story a lot with my students,” he continues. “I also encourage them to remember that they are doing the best they can every day. I’ll ask them, ‘You didn’t wake up today and say, today’s the day I am going to mess everything up, right?’ We do the best we can whether we are 16 or 46 like me. I know it’s easy for me to say, but it gets better.”
Caffey remembers fondly his time at South Puget Sound and the staff who guided his way.
“I don’t know how or why I signed up for an accounting course, but I remember to this day my professor and the climate he created in his classroom. He managed to mix military precision and expectations with a genuine love for his students and a passion for his subject.” It was a model Caffey would carry with him into his counseling career: structure mingled with compassion.
In addition to his role as counselor, Caffey also serves as Tumwater High School’s Diversity Group Advisor. “Their appreciation and value of culture is what makes South Puget Sound truly great,” explained Caffey, who makes it a point to encourage his students to attend the campus’s rich selection of events and speaker presentations. In his role as the Diversity Group advisor, Caffey connects directly with the Diversity and Equity center at SPSCC. The support and common mission bond the two groups closely. “I continue to be impressed with how the college takes notice and action to appreciate every background.”
Caffey lives by a simple mantra: suffering is optional. He is a father, a sport aficionado and a man who is lucky enough to love the work he does, connecting with kids every day, at Tumwater High.
“I believe that there is only one way life goes. It starts and it ends. There are no crossroads, no forks in the road, no ‘would have, could have, should have.’ What happens, happens. This attitude gets me though challenges. I just do the best I can. And when I screw something up I don’t let my head tell me what a screw up I am, I just say, “Well that was screwed up!” and I move on. I realize it’s up to me to tell a positive story about that event, or a negative story about the event.”
It’s the idea that where you are is not where you are always going to be. It’s about seeing beyond where you are standing. And, that along the way, there will be teachers and friends and people who care looking out to help you reach the next step in front of you, whatever it may be.
“Growing up, I dreamed of working on Wall Street,” reflected Caffey with a laugh. “But life happens.”
And in the end, Caffey became what, one could argue, he was always meant to be.
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