Junior Year PADUA Ratings!!!

Ok -- here's the biggie. Junior year. The year that everything happened.
Still today I remember Junior Year like it was just yesterday. What else can I say??? My classes were the greatest too. Let's take a look shall we?

SEMESTER 1

1st Period US History with Mr. Pizon - C+ Looking back, this class wasn't that great but at least I was pretty much able to sleep through it while getting A's. The material that we covered was at least somewhat interesting (I like history) but because of the sheer fact that we moved SO SLOWLY combined with the strangling stench of Pizon's BO (yeah, I sat RIGHT where he usually stood to teach) things could have been just a *little* bit better. But really, it was a class that never really annoyed me and I breezed through it.

2nd Period HONORS German III with Mr. Uhrin - D What was this class? Even I don't know. Mr. Uhrin was an INSANE CLOWN. We did not learn a lick of German. We just sat there like Zombies and listened to him say the same things OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again. Most classes he allowed gave us a free study hall. The only shining moments were those that we got to watch the Falco videos, which were quickly becoming popular at the newly-crowned Za Shack. Bah. The fact that I was in HONORS was a joke. There was absolutely NO DIFFERENCE in the Honors and Regular class. None of them were taught any Deutsch. Bah.

3rd Period American Literature with Mrs. Wonnacott - B The VERY FIRST English class that I actually had an appreciation for literature, due to my personality change during the course of Junior year.
And this class was pretty easy too. Although I will never look forward to taking and English class, it was the first time I didn't despise it. Mrs.
Wonnacott was a good teacher, and I have to admit I learned a great deal. I got a lot of good vibes from stuff like the Gatsby book (which I hated) and I still enjoyed making the video for it. The fact that I had a new-found "thirst for knowledge" made things pass much more quickly.

4th Period Christian Morality with Mr. Gressock - A- I loved this class. This was a semi-philosphy class and it really introduced me to a lot of philisophical concepts. Mr. Gressock was a great teacher too. I really enjoyed all the topics we covered, and I did really well overall in the class. I remember we sat in groups of 4 and I was friends with everyone in the group. And the topics we covered were so interesting. What I remember most was the Enneagram personality tests we did (I still remember all 9 of the personalities) and by studying that I really learned A LOT about myself and allowed me to realize my personality shift that was occuring at the exact same time.

5th/6th Period Art Awareness with Mrs. Horton - A This class was the center of my personality shift. Before I took this class I HATED art, but I looked forward to every single class I took. I sat next to Geoff and we both had the greatest time. The Garden of Love by Pieter Paul Reubens is the greatest painting ever. While it's true I do appreicate the figures of veluptuous women in baroque period art, I DO NOT have a thing for overweight women. Let me make that PERFECTLY CLEAR to everyone. Ok enuff of that. Sister Wendy was cool. I love art history. It's a part of me that never was before then.

8th/9th Period Pre-Calculus with Mr. Cohen - B I got a "D" and dropped the class and I still rate it a B. How could I do such a thing? Because Cohen's class was probably the most informative, challenging class I had ever taken. And Mr. Cohen was also the quiz team moderator so he incorporated a lot of that stuff into class such as "Friday Trivia Day". It was great having so many friends in there, and I just remember Joe grading my "blank homework paper" every day and putting weird comments on it. Yes it's true -- I was INCREDIBLY LAZY in that class and I was always behind, which ultimately caused me to drop the class after the first semester. Oh well, who cares. It was a great experience.

10th/11th Period Chemistry with Doc. Munson - A+ Yes, this is it. The GREATEST class I ever took at Padua. Not only did I have some of the best friends in here, but the academic content of this class was far above and beyond anything I have ever taken. The best part was, my friends helped me study and get our projects done. Projects? Yes there were many. You may remember the greatest ZA production of ALL TIME - The Sphere Video!!! And though others may not see it as that significant, it was the single most life-changing event ever for me. Not because I acted weird and dressed up as a giant squid, but it would be the beginning of the pizza and pop-filled gatherings we know better as ZaFests. Yes, this WAS it. Going back to chemistry...that class was TOUGH! I studied like crazy and was only able to muster a C average (although I did miss like, 15% of my homework so that probably says why I only got 80% in that class). Be that as it may, it's the only class that I can honestly admit I was challenged in. And the feeling of being challenged is great, especially for someone like me. And I know this class had influenced so many other people, since many of my friends are Chemistry majors. Well Doc Dave, you did a superb job!

SECOND SEMESTER

4th Period Sacraments with Fr. Tony - B+ Going into Junior year I thought I was getting Fr. Dan but instead halfway through the 2nd quarter my class received word that classes were switched!!!
Woohoo!!! I think it was cool...although in all honesty I can't really say I learned anything in the class. But who cares? It was an ANIMAL HOUSE in a year that was incredibly difficult for me. What can I say? We watched like, 5 movies in there including Blues Brothers, Starship Troopers and Animal House. Father Tony was hilarious, and he was always in a great mood.

5th/6th Period PASCAL Programming with Mrs. Fatica - B Yes, another computer class. It would've been better if we learned a computer language that was halfway useful. Really, who programs in Pascal?
But I guess that really wasn't in issue. I like computers, therefore I enjoyed the class. Enough said. Mrs. Fatica isn't a bad teacher, but I would have liked to have had better, especially in my field. Oh well, I guess you can't always get what you want. Whatever.

8th/9th Period Math Anal(ysis) with Mr. Leigh - D I say Math Anal because that's exactly what it was - ANAL. We covered stuff I had already learned in previous classes (although knowing EVERYTHING covered in the class isn't necessarily a BAD THING) but the fact that it was really annoying. Then there were some real jerks in the class (seniors).
Combine it all together and it wasn't a very good experience for me, but at least I was able to pull much better grades than in Cohen's class.

11th Period STUDY HALL with Joe, Lisa, Kim, Linda, Angie, Geoff and any others I may have (unintentionally) missed - A+++++++++++

This was totally awesome!!!!! I just have to say that. Mrs. George let us talk all we wanted and we had so much to say. That was great! I liked looking at the Sister Wendy book. I know everyone thinks I'm weird for doing so but guess what -- no one ever said I'm a normal one-dimensional person! Wow this was cool! WOW!

Well, that's it -- a really cool year with so much cool stuff happening. It was the beginning of my adulthood. And I really enjoyed it. I just wish I had my drivers license at the time :)

Senior year is next. My final year at Padua continued right where Junior year left off. I never missed a step. But that's for another day. Until next time, take care of yourself...and each other!

-Chris A. Czaplicki