Teachers Page

My dad taught at Carlmont High School from 1962 until his retirement in 1982. His name is Leo Campey, he taught Industrial Arts, Wood Shop, Metal Shop and Electricity back then, he was also a basketball coach and a football referee. He just passed away on July 26th of this year - posted by Darlene Campey Spencer on Carlmont Nostalgia Society

By now you have found out that the Robert McCormick on Holly Street is indeed our Mr. McCormick. A 1962 graduate recently told me that he had been present at her 50th reunion four years ago, so I hope he will be able to attend ours (even though I won’t)

I had him for Latin and German 2 (German 1 was with Mr. Deagan, who gave me an excellent basis). In both languages, Mr. Mac’s approach was less the immersion method favored today, but had the emphasis on grammar and translation. For me, at least, this worked and I have thought gratefully of him again and again while working as a translator and teaching English as a foreign language in Germany. When confronted with native German speakers in college and later in Germany, I also realized what excellent pronunciation these two teachers had given me. After all, knowing all the words is no help if people can’t understand you!

We spent weeks translating the “Diary of Anne Frank” from German into English. This is a book that stayed with me all my life, especially reading it at about the age Anne was when she wrote it, living in Germany and finally seeing the “Annex” where she lived in Amsterdam. An inspired choice. (Incidently, “Lebensmittelrationierungskarte” is not the longest word in the language…)

And then there was the sentence (in both senses of the word): “As a conscientious member of this most illustrious class, I will endeavor, to the best of my ability, not to talk in class/chew gum in class.” Maybe someone else remembers the exact words. To be written 100 times, no carbon copies accepted.

Mr. Arnot was one of the teachers who most influenced my thinking. In International Relations class one day, the senior class president (Joe Allen) came into the room and asked to address the class. He said that a group of parents wanted to have a meeting in which they would discuss ways to streamline the school – cut sports and extracurricular activities, lengthen the school day, etc. He asked us to join a petition to prevent this meeting. After some heated discussion of the issue, in which this suggestion was harshly condemned, someone said, “Wait a minute! The question is, can the parents have this meeting? And we can’t stop them because they have freedom of speech. We can only protest the decision.” Mr. Arnot grinned broadly and admitted that there was no such plan afoot; he had enlisted Joe to make just this point.

Above remembrance thanks to Anita  (Baker) Cervenak

Mr. McCormick  - I am sure lots of people have fond memories of him--he was such a character.  I remember his Latin classes, though I think I only learned enough to keep me from being noticed and shamed--and now most of it is long forgotten.  However, I owe him much for learning about how language is constructed and for making me a better writer in English

I had two great history teachers: Mrs. Roach, - she taught me how to do research.  Skills I have used both professionally and personally.  I am forever grateful to her, and think of her frequently.  And, her lessons were passed along to my students.  No one else taught me these skills, and my students, I think, were lucky that I passed them along to them as no one else was teaching them these skills, even though they are essential skills for success at university, not to mention many occupations.
 
The other great history teacher I had was Mr. Fasman.   He was a great history teacher--I already loved history, but he made it even more exciting and fun.  Do you remember the History scavenger hunt?  I remember we had to find out some statistics, so when our group was at Stanford University doing some research to answer other questions, we got the bright idea of going over to the Statistics Dept. to see if they could answer the question (something along the lines of which is the longest river, or which state is the farthest east).  The grad Stats students laughed themselves silly before they caught their breath and explained what Statistics actually is.  Then they did help us find the answer by calling on other grad students in other depts.  I hope they still get a chuckle if and when they think of this--I know I do.  Maureen Fastenau

 

 

My  memories of Mr. MacCormack are filled with his intensity and dedication to his students, and his oh so meticulous teaching of language. Sentence construction and proper usage of the English language were an integral part of learning both Latin and German, as he strongly felt you could not learn a foreign language unless you were acquainted with the proper use of English! He gave me a very strong foundation which even today has me cringing at the evolution of modern English - devolution?

I remember also a class outing with him to see a film of the opera Aida - a brief exposure to culture.

He had that special bond with many of his students which would see them return for visits to our classroom when they were home from college - always entertaining!  Cindy Chow Squire

 

 

 

 

 

 



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