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Shawn Askinosie: One of Three to be Inducted Into the SPS Hall of Fame

Michele Skalicky

Springfield Public Schools will induct three new members into its Hall of Fame tomorrow.  One of them is Shawn Askinosie, a graduate of Glendale High School, a former lawyer and owner of Askinosie Chocolate.  KSMU's Michele Skalicky has more.

Sitting among bags of cocoa beans from various parts of the globe and wearing a North Face jacket that just happens to be Glendale colors--light blue and red--Askinosie talks about his time in Springfield Public Schools.

"I loved speech and debate.  It had a huge influence on me--kind of whetting my appetite for the courtroom, and it was a great experience.  I had to make a decision at some point in my high school career between wrestling and debate, and debate won, which was probably a good thing, but it was a lot of fun," he said.

He remembers wearing suits to school sometimes and carrying a briefcase along with his backpack.  Askinosie's dad was a lawyer, and he would sometimes go with him to court.  He says it never really occurred to him not to follow in his father's footsteps.

When he was 12, Askinosie's father was diagnosed with lung cancer.  A teacher helped him through that difficult time.

"Paul Elmore was a teacher at Hickory Hills Elementary School and Junior High, and I had him for two years because we had a split class, and Paul was just out of Drury and a new teacher--pretty new--and he knew what I was going through, and he really took time to check in with me and see how I was doing, and it's something that I'll never forget," he said.

He earned his degree from MU in political science, worked in commercial real estate for awhile and returned to MU to get his law degree.  After two decades in law, Askinosie felt a pull to do something different.  He spent five years praying for a new calling, and he finally found it--making chocolate.  But it wasn't all about making a profit.  He'd grown up with a strong sense of social justice, instilled in him by his parents.  So, he approaches chocolate making in a fair, equitable way  He meets his farmers and gets to know them.  And he works with students in Springfield Public Schools not far from his factory on Commercial Street.

"Chocolate University is a way for us to engage the children of the neighborhood around our factory and just in the community in the elementary, middle and high school level," he said.

Every other year, a group of students from Central High School is selected to be part of the Bean to Bar Chocolate Experience.

"They spend a week on the Drury University campus and learn all about chocolate making and our business

and business profit sharing and they go home and pack for a day and then we take them to Tanzania," he said.

More than half of this year's students, he says, traveled on scholarships.  He says watching students transform during that experience is one of the most rewarding things he's done.  Another is co-founding the Lost & Found Grief Center 14 years ago, which provides grief support services free of charge for children and teens who have experienced the death of a parent or sibling.  Since Lost & Found's opening, the center has served more than 2000 children and their families from an 18 county area.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.
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