By Alex T. Smith
The Class of 2016 looks back on their
greatest memories at DRSS
This Thursday, May the 12th, means that there are just a little over two days left before the end of 4th quarter. For the class
of 2016 this realization brings forth many different feelings. Nostalgia,
excitement, regret, nervousness, resentment, sadness, relief, fear, and a sense
of achievement, are just few of the many feelings the senior grade is feeling both
separately and all at once. This is certainly not without its reason. For to
the class of 2016 the Dayton Regional STEM School has been home for between 3-5
years. Within that time many connections have been made, and some have been
broken. There has been happiness and sadness, excitement and frustration; just
as with most everyone’s high school experience. For this piece, I choose to
focus on the prior: the happy memories we have all shared throughout previous
three years of our high school careers at DRSS:
Freshman year was a new start
for us all. New friends, new faces. The hustle and bustle of cramped hallways
and ceiling-less classrooms. For math there was Ms. Kelly, a kind, patient and
loving guide who for all made math a little less scary. Remembering her goes
almost hand in hand with Mr. Gogol the funny and creative student teacher, who
was a friend to all, and always found a way to make learning math way more fun
than it was supposed to be. To this day the class of 2016 can’t see or hear
about the quadratic formula without singing it in unison to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
For art we had Ms. Montgomery,
who brought a calmness, peace and serenity to the daily routine, that was and
has since been unmatched by anything else. We spent countless hours in that
class honing our art techniques and striving to push the boundaries of what we
believed we could do. We finished the year with the body wrapping project. Everyone
has fond memories of covering a friend in plastic wrap and clear tape before
cutting it off like the shell of cicada. These masterpieces can still be found
proudly littering the halls and classrooms along with the wooden stand ups from
the Experience of Women project.
Learning Chinese is perhaps one
of the most distinctly different things about our school, and each half of the
class started this a different way. For half of us we had the hilarious and
zany Lily Laoshi. Memories of PP Cards and Pop up games still to this day can
make anyone smile and laugh for a while. For the rest of us, we had You Laoshi.
She was soft and sweet, and would regularly treat us to some traditional
Chinese candy and a Chinese movie with English subtitles.
Another STEM classic, as true
to the nature of the school as the myriad of student-produced artwork, is the
remarkable Mr. Bottelier. No other mentor is as much of a life coach and
philosopher while simultaneously a physics teacher as Mr. Bottelier. We all
remember the homemade bread and other foods he would often bring us while we
worked. The Aerospace unit was tricky but also a lot of fun. We all certainly
remember it well.
Mr. Lydy was another fun
teacher who was the wearer of many hats. He could joke around and have you
laughing at his silliness one moment, but then be completely serious and compelling
the next. He is perhaps best remembered for helping to bring light to issues of
social justice throughout our American history. The end of the year debate was
the first major debate that many of us had during high school, and with all the
guest judges it was both awesome and terrifying.
Ms. Harris was always one of
the teachers that challenged her students the most to venture out of their
comfort zone and expand upon their writing style. Throughout projects like the
novelette unit, she gave us a gentle push to improve the way we worked and
thought as writers. She encouraged us to organize ourselves, and always think
critically. We spent plenty of time reading in that class and perhaps the most
memorable story we went through was The
Day of the Triffids. We listened to this by audio book and were enthralled
in the plot for months, until all of a sudden, just like its disappointing
ending, it ended abruptly and blended into the history of the rest of mankind. That
story affected us so much that many of us still can’t look at any meteor
showers for fear of going blind and being devoured by walking shrubs.
Sophomore year added some new
faces and great friends. It was a time of growing and a time of
self-discovery. When going over the
memories that classmates had of this year, some of the most memorable ones that
they discussed came from Ms. Tash’s class.
Wellness and fitness was a class that, because of its physical nature
was one that everyone loved and hated, but all had a love and admiration for
the one who taught it. Students to this day remember the valuable information
that we learned during the sexual education unit. Many can still remember other
students quoting things that Ms. Tash had taught us, when other friends were
considering making bad decisions.
Another lovable Language Arts teacher
was Ms. Reid. Her class was a calm, yet bright environment that was refreshing
to all who had them. We read so many books that were not only good reads, but
also taught us valuable history lessons about conflict and genocide. Many of us
remember participating in Socratic seminars over those same books, and learning
to articulate our opinion on the plot of a story.
Mr. Grieve’s world history
class was closely tied in with the language arts class for this year. Since a
lot of the content of the year revolved around conflicts and genocides the
books that we read for language arts help us to connect literature to history.
This class ended with the end of the year debate. Many remember the lengthy
time it took to prepare, and how fun it was to debate other students. Since we
had plenty of experience in debating by this time in the year, we mostly had
fun trying to trash the other side of the argument. It was a fun process
though, so no friendships were lost.
One of the most missed and best
remembered teachers was Ms. Cook/Whitt (depending on what you called her). Ms.
Whitt always had a way of making biology fun. Even the students that didn’t
really like biology well, seemed to enjoy the lessons just as well as the
biology nerds. Ms. Whitt had a passion for the Isle Royale National park, and
its unique wolf and moose population. Whether it was a good or bad experience
for us, everyone remembers their first rat dissection. Some students were
covering their noses with their shirts while others were enjoying every moment
of the dissention. Some even joked around a little more than was probably
appropriate for the serious task that was dissecting an animal.
Another amazing and stupendous
math teacher was Mr. Polk. Mr. Polk always had a serious exterior but after the
first few times of hearing his sassy and sarcastic jokes, you figured him out
as the joking fellow he really was. Mr. Polk was loved, respected, and
sometimes feared (if you were off task or misbehaving). Mr. Polk was always
happy to help out a struggling student, and was the second on the grand legacy
of STEM math teachers that helped make math less scary. Most remember fondly,
the Westcott House project. A fun project that connected geometry, art and
photography in a way that people found incredibly interesting. We all had a
blast wandering around the Westcott House in pairs taking photos of the
interesting shapes of the building.
Junior year was another year of
change. Students started to grow into themselves more, emotionally and
physically. The prospect of college and the onset of early adulthood was
beginning to set in. It was the year ruled by internships, and students
prepared for getting the experience that would be the first step towards
college application.
For math this year everyone had
Mr. Petrofes. Mr. Petrofes was a fun loving and warm teacher. His students were
often amazed at the seemingly bottomless drawer of snacks that he had in his
room. Students most fondly remember his use of creativity points on group
quizzes. If students were stuck but came up with creative ways to try to reach
the answer their efforts would be rewarded. Mr. Petrofes was a laid back
teacher and encouraged students to take the initiative and seek out solutions
on their own or with the help of others. Above all he treated his students like
adults, and that was refreshing.
Government class was another
fun class that taught us adult responsibility. Ms. Durkee was a teacher that
was hilarious but always demanded respect from her pupils. The students that
have the ripest memories of that class were with the ones that worked with Mathew’s
bill project. Students who participated in this project learned civic
responsibility, and that anyone could contact a representative to talk to them
about an issue that they feel strongly about.
For the student that chose to
pursue Chinese for another year, Tang Laoshi was another teacher that they
would meet. Tang Laoshi was a friendly teacher, who utilized project based
learning in the Chinese classroom in a creative and interesting way that was
quite different than the other years of Chinese. Those students all fondly remember
the Chinese speaking projects and designing models of their dream houses.
Like Biology, Chemistry was
another class that was fun even for the students that struggled with it. Students
recalled that Ms. Kancler was the most like Ms. Frizzle of any STEM teacher. On
lab days Ms. Kancler was like a fair queen ruling over her kingdom. Her royal
subjects always loved lab days, especially those that dealt with titrations, or
forming precipitates. Students also remember how the solubility rules sheet
ruled over their lives for that entire year. It was a fun, yet challenging
class.
Technical Reading and Writing
was perhaps the most important class in terms of preparing us for college
writing. Our teacher, the kind and lovely Ms. McDaniel, taught us important
skills from resume writing for internships, to research papers, to applying for
grants and asking for recommendation letters. The environment in Ms. McDaniel’s
room was quiet and relaxing. Above all it was calm and enjoyable. Even
challenging projects like the manuscript project couldn’t even touch the
supreme calmness of that room without doors.
Now as we go to say goodbye to
one another, let these experiences be what you remember as you go. During our
time at DRSS, every one of us has fallen on hard times, and with every feeling
of success there has been one of pain and sadness. But over these many years we
have become stronger, better, and more remarkable people. We’ve stuck it out
through trials and tribulations, and managed to stand tall; unscathed. We now
go off to greater things. Some of us go on to start off the rest of our lives
by moving straight into a profession. Others will continue on with their education.
With varying degrees of
education expected, our college careers branch out far: From Wright State to
Sinclair, from University of Dayton to Miami University, From Baldwin Wallace
to Kent State, From University of Kentucky to West Virginia University, From University
of Michigan to Eastern Michigan University, and many more prestigious and
remarkable colleges and universities. Quite a number of brave, young men and
women from the class of 2016 have chosen to enlist in the armed forces. With
representatives who will be going into every branch of the military, these
students will go forth to serve our country in the most respectful and
dignified fashion.
With so many different paths we
will follow, then what, you may ask, is that which draws us all together? I
admit that I had to give that question a lot of thought. With so many different
types of people making up our grade, how are we similar in any one general
respect? I pondered this for a long while. Finally it hit me. We are all part
of a group of the most amazing and remarkable young individuals that our
country has to offer. Together we are brilliantly quick-witted, and have
passions so wonderful and immense that we can’t help sharing them with the
world. We are not content to simply dream; we have to reach out and touch our
goals, and strive to be the best that we can be. No matter where we go, or what
path we follow, we are going to be the ones that will make a difference. We are
leaders, inventors, strategists, innovators, craftsmen, organizers, speakers,
lovers, operators, philosophers, healers, scientists, designers, engineers and
artists.
I know that within our small
grade, there are people that will solve many of our world problems. People that
will someday be on the news for some amazing achievement, invention, or action
that will bring about a brighter future for us all. And for that I must
conclude, is why it has been such an honor to be alongside all of you for the
last four years. Thank you all sincerely for the memories. Remember to hug your
friends close, and find closure with those that you need it from before you
leave. Above all enjoy your last few memories at STEM, and be sure to hold onto
all the ones of the past. STEM has been and always will be our home, so we are
all like family. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best of luck
in whatever path you have chosen! You are all capable of so many wonderful,
strong, intelligent, kind, and amazing things. Go out and make it so!
With much love and fond
memories,
Alex T. Smith
