Encouragement

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Tenacious Teacher
© 2009

by

Stephen A. Peterson

On October, 2003, I returned to the Indianapolis area to participate in book signing activities to celebrate the publication of my book “Profiles In Faith, Hope and Courage”. While in town, I went back to Scecina Memorial High School to touch base with the school and teachers who gave me so much. Warm memories flooded over me…the smells of chalk dust, the voices of classmates as they hurried to get to their next class on time. Sister Poncho, Lavone Long and Rita Clare, teachers all, coxing students to be on time for class. While standing in the halls of Scecina and watching the faces of the new generation of students, I was taken some forty years back in time.

I found nuns, priests and lay teachers doing what they did best—teach. The building seemed to have changed very little making my reminiscing much easier. I could see in my mind’s eye Mike Piggott, Paul Nelson, Barbara Hinton, Donna Jones, Jeannie Davidson, Sheldon Forehand, David O’Connor, Vicki Bardash, Colleen Mangold—classmates all. Some smiled or laughed; frowned or cried; were shaken or awed by the environment of the day. But on that humid June 8th night, I remember Father Hoover proudly stand before Archbishop Paul C Schulte to present the tenth and largest graduating class of our high school present us for graduation.

Some of our classmates were so happy and glad that they had accomplished the requirements to graduate; a few afraid of what lay ahead; and a small number glad just to get out vowing they would never enter a classroom of formal education again. For these, school was prison. Standing there, I wonder how many of my fellow classmates regretted not having taken advantage of their four year opportunities to accrue as much knowledge as they could. I knew I did. Now the only teachers remaining during my years were Sisters Lavone Long and Poncho. Sister Rita Clare went to be with the Lord in 1994.

Sister Lavone Long, while escorting me through the hallway, recalled the more than 1500 students of the 1965-1966 academic year (she referred to as “wall-to-wall students). Some of those students in that senior class lacked the skills necessary to go on to college when they began as Freshmen. A few of us put on their thinking caps to go the extra mile to engage, enough and educate the younger minds given us. One of these was Sister Rita Clare. When Sister Rita Clare sought to help a student with English Composition and Grammar she presented the opportunity to the student to accept or reject her proposed to help the student to attain a greater command of their writing skills. If the student accepted her proposal, she would refuse to give up working to achieve the goal of making that person a proficient, skillful writer. A skillful, proficient writer to Sister Rita Clare meant one who dedicated themselves to writing as an art; being able to accept stringent criticism of their work without taking the critique as a personal affront; the willingness to work long and hard at writing, and to understand writing failures when it comes our way.

“Some students could not take Sister Rita Clare’s abrupt, often brutally honest approach. So they resented her and went away bitter, unfulfilled, and anger for the remainder of their lives. A number of Scecina Memorial High School teachers in the 1960’s were in this mode. So it does not surprise me that some students at graduation expressed relief once they graduated from Scecina.”

As I walked around the room I sat in more than 37 years ago, Sister Lavone Long said: “Some of your classmates, as I recall, did not have collegiate worthy writing skills. Some did not have sufficient high school level writing skills. Sister Rita Clare knew that. A small number of teachers gave up on these students—but not Sister Rita Clare. If a student cared, she would not stop tutoring and teaching that student until he or she could write—and do it better than the average writer.”

Looking at some of the angles of the photographs in the 1965-1966 yearbook of Sister Rita Clare’s classroom, I noticed that she had none of the modern materials that English teacher generally had. I made mention of this to Sister Lavone Long.

“Oh, Sister Rita Clare’s tools are those that never ever go out of style—love of her subject, love of teaching, and most of all love of her students and their educational welfare,” Sister Lavone Long said with a smile.

It was at this point I realized that Sister Rita Clare hadn’t given we students just the ability to write clearly, concisely and completely…she had given us lessons in personal responsibly, patience as well as love.

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