Tears on the Rear View Mirror The Class of 2016 looks back on their greatest memories at DRSS

This Monday May the 9th marks exactly one week 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 many 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 whited, 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