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For 14 years, Esquith has spent most of his salary, now $39,000, to buy extra books, videos, art and computer supplies, and to help fund student trips to Washington and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Last year Esquith took 15 teenagers to England, where they toured the Globe Theatre and partied with Sir Ian McKellen. McKellen, actor Hal Holbrook and various California businesses have contributed $100,000 to Esquith's new nonprofit foundation, the Hobart Shakespeareans. But the Education Equalizer still finds himself with $80,000 in credit-card debt--all spent, he says, on "Rafe's kids," as they are known around the school.
Ask those kids what they want to do in life, and the hands shoot up: Grace Hwang--astronaut! Kevin Palma--physicist! Linda Kim--artist! Only one, the little abbess, confesses, "When I grow up, I want to be a teacher like Rafe." Esquith takes on a mock-serious tone. "Shame on you!" he says.