Every month at Sweet Magnolia's in Southfield, those students, who are now parents and grandparents, are reconnecting with that beloved teacher who made quite the impression on their lives.
"It just started as a group of guys from the neighborhood getting together once a month to have breakfast together," says Randy Tate, who helped start the monthly breakfasts.
Their monthly get-togethers soon had another regular guest, who had been the art teacher
for many of them back in the 70's. His name is Bruce Peterson. He taught for almost 31 years in Detroit Public Schools including Courville Elementary.
Christopher Buckingham was a student there and says, "What I remember is the art class with Mr. Peterson. He was my favorite teacher. He inspired me so much."
Mr. Peterson found out about the monthly breakfast meetings thanks to social media and started to join the group almost 2 years ago. He says catching up on life with his former students has taught him something.
"The amazing thing is at 71 years old .. you start thinking .. did my life make any
difference at all? I know it did now," says Mr. Peterson.
"It's not so much that i taught them about art . It's that I cared for them and respected them," he says.
