There are some teachers you will never forget, and there are some teachers that change your life. Depending on who you ask, you may hear mixed statements about Oggie. Who is Oggie, you ask? Well for some, Oggie was a science teacher. For some he was a confidante. Still for others he was the one who kicked them out of school when they didn't meet the requirements, or failed to show up to school. But for me, Oggie was my senior advisor, and the reason I graduated high school and got my diploma at twenty years old. Oggie was an unforgettable teacher who believed that education was important and that anyone who worked for it would succeed.
Oggie's real name is James Ogden, and unlike other high school teachers, he did not allow us to call him Mr. Ogden. Instead, he insisted that his friends call him Oggie, and that everyone should do so as well. Oggie, as you may come to understand, is not like your typical, ordinary teacher. First I should start by sort of painting you a mental picture of him. Oggie is around 5'7 and a bit on the round side. On his face there is an extremely long, shabby beard; speckled with grey. On his head there is long hair with a bald spot smack dab in the middle. In which he normally covers with his favorite black cowboy hat, but occasionally with an erratic hat of his choice. Oggie's choice of clothes is irregular to say the least. This is because Oggie wears skirts. :) Now skirts aren’t the technical name for them, but everyone likes teasing him about it. (It's all in good fun).
Now that you have an idea of what to picture when you're thinking of Oggie, I will tell you about his teaching style. You can't really define Oggie's teaching style, because it’s different with every class he teaches. Oggie is the science teacher of Renaissance high school and when you step into his classroom it screams science. I mean literally... He has one of those motion sensing stuffed animal dinosaur that says science when it detects motion! I was in Oggie’s biology class. The course as he would explain was a college course and that it would not be easy. Although the assignments themselves were difficult and a lot of work, Oggie made learning the material really fun. The most memorable moment of biology class I think everyone in that class would have to agree on this was the final. In the week leading up to the finals, Oggie was making us dread the test because he said it was going to be really hard. We studied in class, we studied for homework, and we even studied on the weekends and on lunch breaks. When the dreaded day finally came, we were terrified of the test, but so packed with information there was no way any of us would fail. We walked into the classroom and instead of hearing the usual SCIENCE! we heard SURPRISE!!! Our final consisted of watching what Oggie labeled as an environmental movie perfect for biology class. It was The Simpson’s Movie!! We watched the movie and Oggie ordered pizza for us since we worked so hard studying. He later explained that he wanted us to realize that hard work really does pay off, and that everything is not always as it seems. Also by tricking us, we all gained the knowledge we needed and a cool way to remember it.
Now as I said before, in addition to being my Biology teacher, Oggie was also my senior advisor. Now going into the school year, I faced a few hurdles. I only had 12 credits going into the year and we needed 23 to graduate, so I had to make up 11 credits which are almost double what you get in a normal school year. Also I was about 8 months pregnant with my daughter, I was huge! I hadn’t been going to school at that time for almost 4 years. And to top it off, I was turning 21 the following summer. This meant that I had to graduate that year or settle for my GED, which was unacceptable for my personal goals. I had a lot of work to do. I shared this with Oggie at our first meeting. He surprised me with a response I will never forget. He flat out told me to quit whining. And to stop making excuses because all of the things I listed were personal choices that I had made and that I had to deal with the consequences. At first, I wanted to get angry, but as I sat there and thought about it, I realized that he was exactly right.
The school year started and I had my daughter. I had to take a month off of school as a maternity leave to be home with Naraiya, which made Oggie push me even harder. I got through the month and returned to school. I buckled down and worked harder than I ever had before, except maybe during childbirth, and got it done. I had worked hard and Oggie gave me the perseverance and earned the credits I needed to graduate!
At graduation, my whole family was there to watch... As Oggie called my name, he did something I would never forget. He told the whole gym that he was very proud of me and that I had walked into that school with so many hurdles to jump and that he pushed me harder than he’s ever pushed me before. With tears I gave my speech, letting everyone know that even if you have obstacles in front of you, anything’s possible if you work hard at it. I thanked Oggie for making me strive for better and accepted my diploma. I graduated proudly with the rest of my class as the highest graduating class in Renaissance high school history. Thanks Oggie, I couldn’t have done it without you!
He sounds very funny and humorous. I'm glad you had an unforgettable teacher.
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