Ricky Booker can be described as many things: A Benson alumnus, an electrician, a chess coach, and an educator. He teaches Electric for freshmen, sophomores, and seniors, as well as a residential wiring elective in his unorthodox style. His many rooms, a series of wiring classrooms that are crammed together in the farthest corner of the newly remodeled Benson High School, are stuffy, unventilated spaces that are always alive with activity.
Before joining Benson as a teacher, he was actually a student at the school. He graduated in 2005 as a photography major. He became an electrician in 2012, and after hearing that the electric teacher at Benson was retiring, decided to take up the role shortly before Benson’s remodel was completed.
However, there are a few things that make him stand out from many other teachers. For one, he doesn’t consider himself a teacher, but as an “electrical instructor,” and he refers to his students as “mammals,” because “it’s the lowest common denominator.” It’s also meant to be a term of endearment.
As well as being the electric teacher, he’s also the coach for Benson’s chess club. Outside of school, he likes to play chess and basketball, also enjoying photography, and just going outside in general. In addition, he has a bald python named Lord Orochimaru, or simply “Maru.”
Even though he bleeds blue and orange, that isn’t the same as loving Portland Public Schools.
“PPS is a terrorist organization,” Booker said. “I’m fully aware [that] free speech is not free. It comes at a cost. So I said what I said, and I stand on it.”
Booker described his history working with PPS, saying, “My PPS career started in the early 90s at Beach Elementary, then to Ockley Green Middle, and then to Benson Polytechnic.” He continued as a contractor, working on solar panels at Jefferson High School, and as a chess coach for Harriet Tubman, Fabian, Woodlawn, and now for BPHS. “I’ve been a PPS ‘participant’ my entire life. So I have a unique perspective. I don’t have a political sway, left, right, middle, upside down. I just go off of what I’ve seen personally.”
He also said, “So, in my opinion, the schools are ran like a prison. They, basically hold you here until you’re 18. And it’s a struggle. So I’m very passionate about coming back and teaching at Benson Polytechnic. And I believe education is not one size fits all. It is convenient to try to make a cookie cutter model, but it doesn’t work when you have the best polytechnic school west of the Mississippi.” In other words, Benson isn’t a regular school, and PPS tries to make it one.
“We are unique, so I’m not a huge fan of trying to copy and paste PPS’s ideas on something that is none of their business. Simon Benson basically gifted this school to PPS.”
Booker discusses the importance of the Benson community, sharing, “All of the tech teachers here, all the alumni that come back to teach, all of my old teachers that still teach here, as reserves essentially just to be substitutes, so that the quality of teaching does not fall apart, that’s special here. I’m not a big fan of PPS, but I do see the value in tribal knowledge and giving back what I learned as a student here to the students that I have currently. And, yeah, strong words, maybe in poor taste, but I have good reasons for my personal feelings and opinions that don’t really vibe with PPS.”
Describing the relationship between Benson and PPS on a sticky note, Booker wrote, “Benson is Hogwarts, PPS = Ministry of Magic.”
