Pi Day and Little Things I Remember About My Teachers

But the event came across on SF Station and I couldn’t help but write a post dedicated to Pi.  I know Pi to the 50th decimal place.  In high school honors geometry, our teacher Mr. Axcioncyzk (I definitely botched his name…can’t remember how to spell it) organized a Pi festival and kids in his class who memorized Pi would get extra credit.  The nerd in me did the memorization and now it’s stuck in my head!  It’s been 17 years.  During the festival, he would time the people who memorized Pi.  We ate pies.  But you know…stupid shit like that made learning fun.  When I went back to school for a reunion, he was still there with his same crewcut and Hitler mustache.  He beamed when I asked about the Pi festival.  Also, another funny thing he did was tell a joke right before we took exams.  Dumb jokes.  Like the dumbest, lamest jokes ever.  

One was ‘Which book of the Bible has an insect in it?’

Answer: Timothy

We were all confused.  He didn’t say anything afterwards or explain it.  We started into our exams, and mid-way through kids were laughing…”Oh, Ti-MOTH-y!”

With Mrs. Norris’ honors english class, we celebrated the Ides of March.  The few days leading up to the day, we put stupid signs throughout the school hallways ‘Beware the Ides of March.’ The day of, we essentially had a toga party, dressed up as Romans in bedsheets.  “Mom, don’t you have a plain white sheet?  I just need a plain white one!”  One year, we found bright yellow CAUTION tape and marked off a section in front of school: ‘Scene of Julius Caesar’s Murder.’

There were lots of little things like that.  I loved it back then, I love when I think of the memories now.  Breeding Drosophila Melanogaster fruitflies in honors biology to learn about dominant and recessive genes.  My kindergarten teacher bringing snow peas to school so we could open them up, count how many, then eat them.  When we learned how to paint, my high school art teacher joked, “Girls, you should be very good at this.  You paint your faces every day.”

A lot of my high school teachers still teach at my school.  I looked up my favorites and sent them an email last Christmas.  They were thrilled (at least that’s what they said) to hear from me.  I’m sure all teachers would be glad to hear from any of their students.  Consider finding some of your favorite teachers on the internet and sending them a howdy-do-da.  Just in time for Easter 🙂