H. Grant Thomas, Jr. '63

Born in Hartford, CT, Grant’s family moved to Houston when he was two years-old, and Grant entered St. John’s in Class 1 in the fall of 1951. During his Class 5 year, his family moved to Locke Lane and moved into the house literally just across Claremont from what is now the Great Lawn. Grant noted that despite having the shortest commute in the entire School, punctuality remained elusive on occasion. While at SJS, Grant participated in various activities, but the classroom was where he thrived. As his classmate Andy Greenwood ‘63 shared, “At St. John’s, Grant was a beloved classmate. Teachers and fellow students enjoyed his intelligence, his clever wit, and his heartfelt kindness.”

Reflecting on his time at St. John's, Grant recalls one highlight of earning the Excellence in German award from Mr. E. K. Salls, who was also Grant’s college counselor before becoming the second Head of School. While he has positive memories of so many who influenced him while at SJS, it was Class 10 English teacher Bob Moore who had what would become an enduring impact on his life and career. Grant observed of Mr. Moore, “He had a passion for education and literature, and he didn’t mail it in. He had an air of authenticity and great respect for his students.” Mr. Moore’s single comment on Grant’s journal entry about jackrabbit hunting at night was “Superb.” That affirmation still resonates with Grant today. 

Grant went on to study English at Princeton, and during his senior year decided to become a teacher. Not wanting to remain up in the East in a more traditional school, he came upon information about Metairie Park Country Day School while researching openings through a teacher placement service. Fond memories of visits to New Orleans inspired his pursuit of this opportunity, and months later in the fall of 1967 he was standing in front of his own Class 10 English class there. While a bit nervous starting out, Grant came to enjoy teaching and “grew up with his 10th graders,” and clearly made an impact on them. Reflecting on this experience decades later, Grant shared that he received a letter of appreciation from a former student in 2016, who in acknowledging that it was forty-five years overdue, shared with him the following from Henry Adams:  “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” 

Bob Moore’s influence on Grant did not stop with his graduation from SJS in 1963. While Grant was honing his teaching skills in Metairie, his former teacher left the confines of St. John, moved east of Houston and, with the help of his wife Maxine, started the Chinquapin Preparatory School, a private college-preparatory boarding school for students from under-resourced communities. Reaching out to Mr. Moore in 1972 to offer support for the new school, Grant asked his old English teacher, “How can I help?” The next thing he knew Grant was heading back to Texas and a Chinquapin classroom, along with his recently married wife Margo. Compared to his prior experiences at St. John’s, Princeton, and Country Day, Chinquapin offered Grant a completely new perspective and an awareness of a real need to be filled. He noted that unlike in his prior experiences, students there asked “Where do you stay?” not “Where do you live?” This was the first of his transformative experiences that would lead to his later exploits.

From Chinquapin, Grant returned to graduate school, earning a Master’s in Education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in 1974. While in Cambridge, Grant got involved in the Guidance Center at the Judge Baker School, an institution that, in partnership with Harvard Medical School, continues to serve to improve the quality of children’s mental health. In working in this setting, Grant saw again firsthand the incredible needs of so many young people. This was the second transformative working experience that would serve as a catalyst for his work to come.

After two years at the Judge Baker School, Grant entered the PhD program at the University of Texas to pursue his degree in Education, and Austin has been his home ever since. In the spring of 1980, during the final semester of his PhD program, Grant had an internship in the Austin ISD Office of Student Affairs. While he was there, the office got together with a local mental health guidance center to initiate a peer-counseling pilot program, with Grant leading the charge, inspired by his prior experiences in and lessons from Chinquapin and the Judge Baker School. When they received approval for funding for the program, Grant was the obvious choice to serve as its first coordinator. 

In the fall of 1980, a handful of students from Crockett High School began offering peer-mentoring to students in nearby Porter Junior High to initiate the program in what would eventually come to be known as the Peer Assistance, Leadership & Service program, PALS for short. Reflecting on the first sessions, Grant felt that the mentor students were not having the impact he believed that they could, so he literally flipped the script. Instead of having the mentors follow the script that he had written to guide them in their interactions with mentees, he had the students themselves write them, and lightning struck. By transferring this responsibility to the PALs, they took ownership of the process, fully earning the rapport with and trust from their PAL-ees. As Grant realized, “trust was the mother’s milk of the program.” He also realized that the impact of the experience of the program ran both ways. Just as the junior high students benefited from the support of the PALs, the PALs were being influenced by their interactions with their PAL-ees. 

The following year, the program spread to Austin’s Lanier HS with continued success, and within seven years Grant’s PALS program was in every high school in the Austin Independent School District. Given its rapid adoption within the district and its potential for further growth, Grant and his team established the Peer Assistance Network of Texas to assist other districts in implementing PALS. By 1994, over 300 Texas school districts were using the PALS program to support their students, but Grant wasn’t finished. By continuing to ask “What role can kids play in addressing this issue or solving this problem?” Grant’s PALS program served as the model for over a dozen additional peer assistance and youth development programs for the benefit of young people. Among these are Urban Roots, No Kidding: Straight Talk from Teen Parents, and the Plan II/KIPP Partnership. Still, PALS remains the signature program upon which all the others are modeled. As his classmate Andy Greenwood observed, “Grant’s theory is based on his sincere belief that young people helping each other is much more effective than the classic mentorship model where adults do the mentoring. Over the years, the application of Grant’s theory has remarkably and positively transformed thousands of young people.” 

As PALS recently celebrated 40 years of the program, Grant likened the experience to being the “old grandpa at a family reunion.” He is clearly proud of the impact of the program, but he is not complacent. Grant noted that the program remains underfunded and underrealized, and there is still room for improvement to achieve its full potential. His current involvement is with the PALS Campaign through the vehicle of Youth Launch, a private-public partnership created to raise the funds to perpetuate the program through the future. He shared that this work “continues to animate me,” and his long-term goal is for peer assistance to become normative in every school, just like the structured support found in athletics and the arts. Fortunately, Grant has many partners to help him in this endeavor. One of them is Jill Kolasinski, who has been working with Grant to advance his programs for over twenty years and has vowed to continue the good work he has started: “All I know is that I count my lucky stars for having Grant in my life, and I will continue to work hard to ensure his programs and legacies thrive for many, many decades to come in order to improve–and even save–the lives of thousands of young people every year.”

When Grant learned about earning the Distinguished Alumnus Award, he quipped that has never before been accused of being “distinguished.” The St. John’s Alumni Association clearly disagrees and is honored to present this award to him.