Back to the Past...More High School Memories

It has been quite awhile since I have actually posted memories, so I will get back to those in this post.

Sophomore classes: more world history, earth science, English, Latin, geometry, gym. I have always enjoyed history. I think the reason is that I had some really good history teachers in junior high and high school. Mr. Boulger taught all of his history via "The Boulger Circle" which he would draw on the blackboard in the beginning of the school year and explain in detail. I loved his stories: you could tell that he was really into his subject. He was always a favorite of mine.

Mrs. Welch taught earth science. She was a southern belle complete with the drawl and she called us collectively, "y'all". Earth science was dry and boring, even for me, and I always wondered how she could teach the subject several times per day. (Later in life, when I became a teacher and it was my responsibility to teach earth science to freshmen, I still hated earth science.) Mrs. Welch was good-natured, though not an impressive teacher, and the class was easy.

English was taught by Mrs. Baker, a young enthusiastic teacher who liked Shakespeare. We read a lot of Shakespeare that year. I am a BS/MS in science but I never did get the hang of interpreting Shakespeare. Disliked this class for the content, not the teacher. Nice lady but too bad she had to teach Shakespeare.

Mr. Welch (not related or married to Mrs. Welch) taught Latin, a class that was interesting and I was good at it. Dead language but fun class.

Mr Trimarchi taught geometry. Not my favorite math. I did not like using theorems to prove things. My personal favorite math was algebra. The teacher was a good guy though and he tried to make the class interesting.

Gym was by far my favorite class...isn't it everybody's? In high school, as in junior high, there was a giant curtain separating the girls' gym classes from the boys'. Mrs. Thompson, who was about 6 feet tall, was the girls' gym teacher. Every class began with 15 minutes of exercises. I even liked doing those, though many girls hated them. My favorite classes involved walking up the hill to the field above the school to play field hockey or softball or run. Though every class watched out the window to see you walk the hill in your lovely gym suit with the bloomers underneath. I can smell the grass on the hill even now, one of those unmistakable dry fall smells. It was liberating to be outside even for a short time to enjoy the fresh air!