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David Menasche (August 1, 1973 – November 20, 2014) was an American educator and a cofounding teacher of Coral Reef Senior High School in South Miami-Dade, Florida.[1]
Menasche began his teaching career at Coral Reef after earning his teaching certificate at Florida International University in 1997.[2] In the fall of 2006, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a lemon-size brain tumor in his right temporal lobe indicative of Stage IV brain cancer, and given a few months to live. After undergoing three surgeries, two and a half years of chemotherapy, and 30 rounds of radiation, he was able to teach at Coral Reef for six more years until he suffered a seizure in 2012 that greatly reduced his peripheral vision in both eyes and weakened his left side, forcing him to give up teaching.[3]
Unable to return to Coral Reef, Menasche decided to embark on a quest to reconnect with some of the 3,000 students he had taught during his 15-year career. Calling it The Vision Quest, Menasche posted his plans to his old friends and students on Facebook with a call for couches, and ended up with 73 offers within three days.[2]
Menasche departed from Miami on November 2, 2012, with a list of 150 available couches across the country, filming and chronicling his journey along the way. Completing his trek in February 2013, he spent a total of 101 days on the road, visiting 31 cities, and seeing over 75 former students.[4]
Following his trip, he published an autobiography, The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons.[5] The title of the memoir comes from an exercise Menasche used with his high school students when studying Othello. It is a list of values that he asked students to prioritize for the play’s main characters in order to develop an understanding of motivation.[6][7]
Menasche had two older brothers, Maurice[8] and Jacques.[9] He separated from his wife, Paula, after the Vision Quest.[10] Menasche’s story gained national attention when Lidia Dinkova, a former student, contacted him to write a story for the Miami Herald.[11] NBC,[12] USA Today,[13] and CNN[14] then quickly picked up the story of Menasche’s Vision Quest and struggle with brain cancer. Menasche died on November 20, 2014, aged 41.[15]
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