'Lifelong Learning' Took Chris Beal '80 Back to School in his 50s

And on a recent hike on the Robert Frost Wayside Trail in Vermont, Beal enjoyed stopping and reading Frost’s poems along the way. It’s not something his teenage self would have necessarily enjoyed, he noted, but something his Barstow education now helps him appreciate.  

“That lifelong learning that is instilled in you at Barstow is not a cliché. It’s the truth. And for me, I really value it,” Beal said.  

Beal attended Barstow inprekindergarten and returned for ninth grade through graduation. 

“I loved Barstow. It was such a great experience for me,” Beal said. “What I really liked was the small classes and the opportunity to do a lot of things that I would not have been able to do at a public school.”

At Barstow, Beal was the student council president, and enjoyed covering governmental issues for the B-Line: “I was always trying to push a political agenda.” He also was part of the first debate team at Barstow, which is “where I learned to be really involved in the political arena.” Beal would go on to a 34-year career in government and policy. 

Beal also fondly remembers travel opportunities he took at Barstow that inspired “a lifelong adventure in traveling.” 

Between his junior and senior year, he lived in Ecuador through the AFS student exchange program. He has been back three times since then. When he turned 60 in 2022, he hiked Cotopaxi, a 19,347 foot mountain in Ecuador. 

Beal also participated in a 1980 trip to China with other Barstow students, faculty, staff and alumni. They were one of the first student groups nationwide to go to China, and the first Missouri high school to visit. They toured Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Kunming, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Tokyo, Japan.

After Barstow, Beal attended the University of Kansas, where he majored in political science. He went on to hold many positions in the government sector in Washington D.C., Topeka and Kansas City. He worked for U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum, U.S. Representative Bob Whittaker, and the Kansas Republican Party’s House Majority Leader.

In 1990, Beal became vice president of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, directing government relations programs. He then spent 13 years at Eli Lilly working on mental health policy. 

His most meaningful job, Beal said, was raising money for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts from 2009-2012. 

“It was the toughest job I’ve ever loved,” he said. “It’s something that’s still a source of pride whenever I go back to the Kauffman Center.” 

Throughout his career, Beal had a special passion for mental health policy, partly inspired by his own journey. He is sober and participates in a recovery program. When he received a buyout in 2020, he decided to switch careers and go into social work.

“This will be an opportunity to help individuals rather than try to change systems,” Beal recalls thinking. 

He returned to his alma mater, KU, and received a Master’s Degree in Social Work at 58 years old. He was the oldest student in his program, and really enjoyed the experience. 

“I love people with different backgrounds and perspectives and so for me it was really fun,” Beal said. “When I made my decision to go back to school, it did require a strong focus on the academic part. I hadn’t been in school in years and things had changed. So it required me to really rethink how to approach everything from doing a research paper to class.”

After his graduate degree, Beal worked at Johnson County Mental Health for a year and half, counseling teenagers with substance abuse.

Now retired, Beal enjoys traveling and hiking. He also serves on Jackson County’s Community Mental Health Fund Board, and facilitates recovery meetings at Lansing Correctional Facility a couple times a month. 

To others looking to return to school or make a career change, Beal strongly encourages the decision: “I would say do it earlier rather than later so you can truly enjoy and excel.”