Page 12 - Amarrilo Senior Link Magazine Spring 2019- Online Magazine
P. 12

HONORING SENIORS
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          Senior                Senior



                                                                            Mary Wands




                                                                            An Educator




                                                                            of Life








                                                                           by Gabriell Papp





            n my life, school has been generally   her see our faces, so that she knew   however, Mrs. Wands always had
            positive. I adore the subjects of   whether we were understanding the   a way of soothing the situation. A
         Ilanguage arts, social studies, and   concept she was presenting. Because   particular favorite of mine was her
         anything that avoids numbers. Math   of that extra level of interest in our   answer to almost any complaint. She
         has always been a rather daunting    participation, I found her classes to   would simply look at me with a smile
         subject for me. The memorization     have a uniquely personal feel to them.   and, in her sweetest tone, say, “I’m
         skills required in other subjects are   She didn’t really care what we did   sorry you feel that way.” That little
         much easier for me to tackle than the   as long as we were learning. This led   dose of optimistic humor lightened the
         problem-solving ability math requires.   to extravagant towers and copious   load of obstacles enough to make them
         Because of this, I find it ironic that the   amounts of falling dominos. If we   manageable. Despite our numerous
         person whom I have chosen to honor   were particularly rambunctious, we   complaints, Mrs. Wands was always
         is none other than my sophomore and   were made to write essays about    there to answer questions and give an
         junior year math teacher, Mrs. Mary   various astronomical subjects. I   encouraging word of prayer before
         Wands.                               distinctly remember being assigned   each test and quiz. She worked my
                                              two pages discussing whether Pluto   classmates and me through geometry,
         I first met Mrs. Wands in my         was a planet. She was by far the most   pre-calculus, and physics, filling in
         freshmen study-hall class at San     interesting study-hall monitor and the   the gaps of previously unmastered
         Jacinto Christian Academy. She was   smartest tutor I had ever seen.     concepts as she went. Even though
         the legendary “mathmagician” who                                         at times it seemed impossible, I can
         oversaw all upper class, advanced    Mrs. Wands gave the hardest quizzes   tell you with confidence that I am
         math courses. Even though she wasn’t   I have seen in high school. It was the   thoroughly prepared for anything
         my math teacher at the time, it didn’t   first time that my class had faced a   college will throw at me.
         take long to figure out that she could   teacher who expected us to be able
         solve almost any problem. She served   to utilize the material versus just   It’s obvious Mrs. Wands was meant
         as a private tutor to many of us     memorizing it. My junior year, I was   for teaching. When I asked her why
         struggling with our Algebra II course   faced with back-to-back pre-calculus   she became a teacher, she said that
         that year. I found it engaging that she   and physics. Tests were even harder   she had always been one. Because of
         preferred to use an overhead projector   and more frequent. The attitude of the   her academic skills, she was a tutor
         instead of the large white board in   whole class grew worse and worse.   throughout most of her schooling,
         the class room. When asked why, she   My own pessimism was legendary.    adding even more experience to her
         answered that using the overhead let   No matter how bad it seemed to be,   thirty-four years in the school system.





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