Dear Clients and Friends – We’re thrilled to share the great life story of clients Dan and Rachel Gibson, filled with family and their passion for the Columbus Classical Academy. Jake Martin serves as Dan and Rachel’s lead advisor; below is his conversation with them. Enjoy! – Matt Palmer
Jake: Dan and Rachel, please share with us a bit of your own backgrounds and introduce us to your children as well.
We both grew up in Ohio. Rachel spent most of her childhood on her parents’ farm in the Plains, outside of Athens, which they still maintain with a horse and a few barn cats. I grew up with three siblings on a small brick street in Wooster, where my parents still live. After graduating from Athens High School, Rachel went on to Ohio University and earned a degree in psychology. Following a gap year living in Scotland, she then went on to law school at Case Western in Cleveland. I attended Davidson College in North Carolina (before Steph Curry made it famous) where I studied philosophy, followed by law school at Stanford and then a year in Washington D.C., before returning to Ohio to practice law.
We met when we were both attorneys at Bricker & Eckler, (which we know has a special place in the history of The Joseph Group as well). Rachel then moved on to Cardinal Health in 2010, where she still works and is currently a VP in the legal department, I continued practicing at Bricker until just a few years ago. We were married back in 2012 and welcomed our daughter Delaney a year later (she will be 12 in March), and then our second daughter, Edie, who is 8, in 2016. Edie loves sports and is currently a football nut—she loves watching, playing, designing plays, everything about it. And Delaney has become quite the baker—from cakes, to chocolates, to cupcakes, and all manner of concoctions. Since we both love football and sweets, things are pretty fun in the Gibson household these days.
Jake: Sure sounds like it! You know that we love to share our clients’ great life stories. Often, we are featuring clients who have recently retired from a busy and successful career and have entered that next great chapter of life. Your great life story is one of transition in your mid-career. I know our clients and friends would enjoy learning more about your decision to leave a thriving law practice and establish the Columbus Classical Academy – and please tell us about the school.
Like a lot of parents, we struggled during COVID to figure out the best educational option for our kids. The challenges of online learning, along with our desire for more curricular content and rigor, sent me on a search that eventually turned into an examination of the whole history and philosophy of education in America. When I discovered classical education and the Hillsdale College K-12 initiative, I quickly became convinced that it was the best way to educate a child. Classical schools are part of the long, liberal arts tradition in the West, which understands the primary purpose of education to be the formation of well-rounded, knowledgeable, and virtuous citizens. The only problem was that among all the schools in Columbus, none was a full, K-12 classical school where we could send our girls.
By God’s providence I was able to connect with a number of extraordinary people in Columbus who also saw the community’s need, and we formed a small board to see if we could launch a new, private, classical school. And when we started to look for a founding head of school, although I had not ever conceived of making it my vocation, I sensed that it was a calling that I needed to fulfill. Rachel was incredibly supportive and encouraging, despite the time and financial sacrifices she knew it would require of both of us. And so, in August of 2022, I left Bricker to take over as the founding Head of School at Columbus Classical Academy.
We opened the school to our first students (including our own girls) in August 2023, and now in our second year, we have 87 students with the prospect for significant growth next year. In many ways, it has been harder than I could have imagined; but it has also been much more rewarding than I ever expected. The best part has been seeing the impact it has had on Delaney and Edie and the other children at the school. The curriculum is demanding, we have a strict no-technology policy, we emphasize discipline and virtue daily—and the kids love it. They’re learning so much, and parents regularly tell us how much of an observable difference it is making in their children already. The change in careers has been quite an adjustment for me, but we’ve been blessed beyond measure, and I hope and believe that decades from now, the school will continue to be a blessing to the families of Central Ohio.
Jake: Very inspiring, thanks Dan. Rachel, we would love to hear your thoughts about the transition Dan made as well as more about your family life and the “greatness” you are pursuing with your children.
It was easy to see early on that Dan was extremely passionate about the school and that it would provide Delaney and Edie with the kind of education we desired for them. Even though it meant some changes for our family, I really encouraged Dan to pursue it, and I am glad he did; it was clearly the right decision. As a family, we’re in a very busy phase of life right now, with the girls involved in sports and activities and both of our jobs demanding quite a lot of time from us. So, our pursuit of “greatness” is really about preserving time together and remembering to enjoy some of the simple things. We have dinner together as a family almost every evening and keep our weekends for family time as much as possible. While we want the girls to excel at whatever they do, we’re more interested in the kinds of people they are becoming—and part of that is reminding them that although hard work matters, achievement or worldly “success” is not the most important thing.
Jake: Rachel, thank you for sharing so powerfully about what is most important to you and Dan in the raising of your girls. Finally, we would love for the two of you to share your own thoughts on what constitutes a life of greatness; a life well lived. What should people focus on during their lives so that at the end of their earthly journey they feel they’ve lived a good life and left the legacy they want to leave?
The namesake of The Joseph Group is a good place to start. The Old Testament Patriarch Joseph had little control over the circumstances of his life—sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, imprisoned, and forgotten—and yet he trusted God, worked diligently, acted honorably, and stewarded every opportunity that was given to him, whether it was at the bottom of a pit, in a dark dungeon cell, or as the Prime Minister of Egypt. Anyone who can humbly accept the gifts that God has given to them and use them for the good of others and for His glory in any circumstance, has lived a life of greatness, regardless of whether the world ever takes notice.
Jake: He certainly is an inspiring figure for our team. A beautiful reflection. Dan and Rachel, thank you so much for taking time to share with us your great life. May your lives continue to make an impact and leave a legacy that blesses others for generations to come. God Bless!
Editor’s Note: For more information on The Columbus Classical Academy, go to www.columbusclassical.org