What I Learned in High School (abreviated)

All of us learned a lot at good ol' Heavener High. But if I had kept a diary back then, I'm sure there would have been some entries noting days when I'd rather have stayed home from school. However, staying home from school wasn't listed in my parents' "things our kids can do". If we weren't really sick (fever or throwing up were good indicators), we went.

I'm sure that every former student had their favorite teachers (or classes), and that's where I'm going with my blog today. Classes that we enjoyed were usually the ones that held our attention the most.

It's a no-brainer that math has come in handy throughout my adult life...as well as English composition. I can't say "English" without thinking of Mrs. Freeman. Even today I sometimes wonder if I could "diagram" some of the sentences I use in my writing. I'm sure I couldn't, but it was interesting when we were being taught the basics of our language. I know there were other teachers that had a big part in that subject, but it's Mrs. Freeman that I think of first.

Math was Mr. Woolbright for me. He was quite a character and I enjoyed his classes. His was the only class that I ever sneaked out of, though. I've mentioned it in earlier blogs, but I once had to climb through the window at the back of the room in order to make it to the airport in time to take an airplane ride with Mr. Burnett.

The most important thing I learned in high school....drum roll, please...., and you're going to be surprised....was from Ms. Decker's class. Yep, it was 'typing'! I have to put my learning to type up there at the top of the list. Although my career was in air traffic control, I couldn't begin to count the opportunities I had to use the skill of typing (fast and accurate) and how it aided my profession...not only with the administration chores, but when making computer entries at the radar positions when working live traffic. When I was first learning my profession, I would see some of the old-timers hunting and pecking and getting further and further behind as they struggled to use the "new fangled" computers that came along.

As much as I loved science in school...and Mr. Bettes' classes...I have to mention Mr. Henson's shop classes high on my list, as well. I've built many pieces of furniture for our homes that I would have never attempted without the knowledge gained from Mr. Henson's shop classes. On the other hand, Mr. Bettes taught me how to develop camera film (remember film?)...showed us boys how to build rockets after regular school classes....and always had answers to the many questions I asked him in Biology and Chemistry classes. Not only did he have answers to my questions, but he always maintained his quiet, cool demeanor, when, inside, he probably wanted to strangle me.

I've often wished that I had learned another language in high school, but those classes weren't mandatory until after I graduated. I've always been a little envious of those that know some Spanish these days.

Although sports weren't really "classes" (were they?)...I would have to give some credit to Coach Collins for teaching us the importance of teamwork. He showed us that playing (or working) as a team can add weight to a not-so-big group of players. Teamwork...along with superior game planning, on Coach Collin's part...allowed our teams to succeed.

So, that's it...a short list of some of the things I learned in high school. I'm sure I didn't do justice regarding some of my other teachers. These were just a few of the obvious (to me) things, which I attribute to my high school learning, that have impacted my adult life so much.