Quotes I Hate: Bret Poppleton at TEDxYouth@DSST
Bret Poppleton is currently the Senior Academy Dean and Director of Student Life at DSST: Stapleton where he has worked for the past eight years. He previously held the job of Director of Finance and Operations and was also a teacher there for two years. At DSST, Bret has helped to build the organization from a single school serving 425 students, to a network of charter schools, which will eventually serve more than 7000 students, grades 6-12. He hopes to change the eternal trajectory of each student with whom he interacts.
Bret graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1997 as a Finance Major, where he also played Division I baseball for the Fighting Irish. His experience on the baseball team allowed him to travel extensively in the United States from Boston to LA, and Seattle to Miami. After pretending to be an accountant, he moved to Alta, Utah as a ski bum, before continuing his education at Penn State University, where he earned his MBA in 2000.
Shortly after graduating from MBA school, Bret took a job in Fort Collins, CO with Agilent Technologies as a Supply Chain Analyst. While in Fort Collins, Bret would meet and then marry his beautiful wife Jayla in 2002. Later that same year, the newlywed couple moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands for three years where they helped to start a non-profit organization and church in the heart of the city center. Known for drugs and prostitution, Amsterdam is an amazingly beautiful place that is forever set in their hearts.
In 2005, Bret and Jayla moved back to Denver, where they have worked and lived since. Bret's pursuits include cycling, triathlon (completed an Ironman in 2011 -- 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), travel, photography, social justice and coffee. His real passion though is his family -- his amazing wife Jayla and their boys, Asher, Isaac and Theo. You often find Bret wrestling with his sons, trying to not to break everything in the house... most of which is already broken.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)