Academics

Joy To The World

I never realized it at the time but when I was in school I was actually pretty smart. In Junior High School the principal was Alma Sommerfeldt and he was a big, tall and very imposing man. He was also my math teacher. In grade nine he pulled four or five of us to the side and taught us separately from the rest of the class. I didn't think anything about it but I now realize that it was because we were way ahead of the rest of the class. This was the thing that gave me a huge head start in math. I've mentioned it before but I was so excited to go into high school because I could take all of the science classes. I was like a kid in a candy store when I went into my first physics class. I loved it when they pulled out the van de graaff generator and when we used prisms and mirrors and lenses and magnets. I was also totally excited about chemistry. We actually played with mercury in those days and poured it from hand to hand. We also did fun things like drop sodium into a beaker of water. You'd never be allowed to do that now. What a shame. And then there was biology. Biology wasn't particularly my favorite science class but Mr Shaw was definitely my favorite teacher. The way they named the classes were 10, 20 and 30. For example Math 10 was grade ten math, math 20 was grade eleven math and math 30 was grade twelve math. If you wanted to go to college you had to take the 10, 20 or 30 classes but if you didn't need it you could take some other class like 13, 23 or 33. To get accepted into college you had a much better chance if you matriculated which meant you took the 30 level classes in certain key areas. I, of course took only the 30 level classes. I don't think I needed all of the science classes but I took every one that I could. I also received honors in five of my classes. I know I got honors in math, biology, chemistry and physics and I think my other honors was in auto mechanics. I think my final grade in biology was something like 99% and I was so bummed that I didn't get 100%. Every time Mr Shaw asked a question I would raise my hand and he finally quit calling on me because he wanted to give someone else a chance. What a nerd I was. I would annoy myself if I had to teach me.

We were raising fruit flies in biology and one day someone left the door on the cage open and there were flies all over the class room. We weren't allowed to kill them either. Mr Shaw loved them. He assured us that they were very clean flies.

Next to Physics my second favorite class was auto mechanics. The teacher in that class was Mr (Blaine) Leavitt and he loved me. I remember one day in class we were rebuilding fuel pumps and he asked us how the fuel pump knew to quit pumping if the carburetor didn't need any more fuel. Everybody was clueless but I figured it out and he was so proud of me. I loved auto shop. I finished all of my projects way early so he let me decide what I wanted to do with the rest of the semester. One of the things I decided to make was a rocket nozzle on the metal lathe. I did a wonderful job of it and I had visions of making a rocket like Gregs but living in Cardston I was unable to get my hands on a seamless steel tubing so I never actually built the rocket. I think I still have that nozzle laying around somewhere. In grade twelve we actually rebuilt an entire motor. None of the jocks wanted to partner with me so Keith Webster and I ended up being partners. Lucky for me, Keith was the one other nerd in the class and we finished our motor in probably half the time as everyone else. Everyone else also had three people in a team but Keith and I only had the two of us. I vaguely remember that when we finished our engine we had a difficult time getting it to start but we did finally get it going.

Years later when we lived in Rosemary there was a Martin kid visiting relatives there (Don and Patsy) and when we got reminiscing I realized that he was in my auto mechanics class with me. He told me then that everyone else was so upset with Keith and I that they filled our cylinders with motor oil and that is why it wouldn't start. How funny.

If I loved the sciences, I despised social studies. I could see no use in learning about history or sociology. To matriculate I was required to take Social 10 so that is what I did and I didn't take another history class or anything like it ever again. Looking back I realize that I really did miss out and if it was up to me I would require social studies all three years of high school. It took a good twenty years however before I gained any kind of appreciation for history.

My second least favorite class was English and unfortunately English 30 was required for matriculation so somehow I muddled through. English 20 was taught by Mr Brady. Mr Brady was from England and it was a matter of pride for him that everyone should do homework. It was a matter of pride for me that I never do homework so we really clashed. Unfortunately if a student and a teacher clash the student usually loses. I did homework and I did more homework in his class than I did in all of my other years of school from grade one to grade twelve combined. I think I am a better person for it but you couldn't have convinced me of that then.

Our school was set up much like Westview is. We had five long class periods in a day (as opposed to more shorter classes) but one of those classes was a study hall. Most kids in study hall visited and played around but that is when I did what ever homework I couldn't get done in class. I think the whole study hall idea is a very good idea because I really think kids today do way too much homework.

I remember one day in study hall Tom and I decided to play a joke on the teachers who were supervising. Study hall was held in the library and we sat at tables with nice soft chairs with cushions on them. Once when the two teachers were distracted we put a pin in the cushion of the chairs and when the teacher sat on the chair he got that pin inserted into his gluteus maximus. He jumped straight into the air. I can't believe I did such a thing and I was in high school no less. What a stupid kid I was. Oh well, it was quite funny.

I have no idea why but when it came time for college applications I had no interest in going to any other school but BYU. That was the only school I applied to and if I had been as smart as I thought I was I would have applied for some scholarships because I am quite sure I would have received something. My parents didn't think of it and neither did I so I never received anything. I took the ACT test and while I don't remember what my score was I do remember that I tested out of my first year math classes and went straight into calculus.

It is a bit foreign to me to watch my kids so upset at the end of high school, they have all been so sad to leave but I couldn't wait. Brandon was a lot like me in that respect. We were both rather tired of high school and we couldn't wait to get out. I was so ready to move on and I was celebrating the end.