Senior class PADUA ratings :)

Senior year at Padua. Where every day you looked forward to seeing everybody in class and studies went on the backburner... Can you say...senioritus??? Yeah, I think so. My amazing GPA combined with really dull classes caused for some interesting things.

For the very most part, all my senior classes sucked big time. It sometimes really makes you wonder if that $5,000/yr was really worth it. I had some of the most unprofessional, idiotic teachers that have ever roamed this earth. They did not make me study. They did not make me work. They dumbed everyone down since no one had any motiviation to do ANYTHING causing those who WANTED to learn to fall in the same trap.

Socially, I don't think anyone can disagree that senior year was the best by far. It was the final destination on which everything had built on for the past 3 years. And that in itself made everything all the better.

Semester 1

1st/2nd Period Physics w/Mr. Laret - F
This class almost single-handedly makes me have a negative attitude toward Padua and their mission statement. There is ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING REASON MR. LARET HAD ANY RIGHT TO TEACH THAT CLASS. He did not know shit. He spent 2 class periods trying to figure out a problem it took me less than a minute to do. We did not learn a thing in there. He did not teach. The class was outright dumb. It was a joke. It was everything you want a class NOT to be. After the first quarter or so I totally gave up on trying to learn, so I just went ahead and independently studied the rest of the book while everyone else was on Chapter 2. I didn't do any homework, I just pretty much showed up and was only awake for tests. And I still passed with not much of a problem. I gave about 1% effort. There was absolutely no reason to put forth any effort when the instructor doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. And the worst part is, i'm inherently strong in math and therefore i'm pretty strong in physics. Which means I had the potential to learn so much more than what I was offered. Hay Padua -- stop spending $100k/yr on your stupid asphalt parking lot and start hiring REAL teachers that actually give a shit.

3rd Period Calculus w/Mr. Kohuth - B
Genius. That's my name, and it was my motivating factor when I really started slacking in that class. I had something to prove to Kohuth and I did so. He taught the class fairly well and he picked on the football players more than anyone else. So he left me alone until he started calling me 'Genius' because one day I didn't show work for my homework answers. So after that I had to make sure I actually gave some effort. It worked, and I have to say I learned quite a bit in that class. Now, to find a use for all that knowledge!!!

4th Period Business Principles/Entrepreneurship w/Mrs. Gathers - B I am born to run my own business, so this class was a cakewalk. Mrs.
Gathers was really nice, and we did some cool things in there. Class size was small too. The only problem was, this class didn't really teach me anything I didn't already know. I know it wasn't an "honors" course but I would think that Padua should have some higher standards for academic content. This is one of those classes that was "dumbed down" because most of the students had only average intelligence. I don't want to sound all "smarty-pants" or something but WTF - my parents spent $5k to send me here and I get this? You gotta be kidding me.

5th/6th Period Advanced Computer Topics w/Mrs. Fatica - B+ Computer classes are cool. Special classes for the top computer science students is even better. We worked on cool topics such as Visual Basic and Hardware and Powerpoint and stuff. The only problem was that the class was dominated by a couple loudmouths (I won't mention any names) and some of us didn't get the attention we deserved. But that's only a minor gripe. Mrs.
Fatica isn't the best computer teacher by a long shot, but at least she was adequate (and a much better replacement for Mr. Hicks :)

8th/9th Period British Literature w/Mrs. Wonnacott - B- Another round with Wonnie -- began w/Beowulf, continued on with Cantebury tales and finished off with Frankenstein. A very adequate class for those who gave a shit about learning. I was about 50/50 (senior factor creeping in here) but I really enjoyed a large portion of this class, even though it was English :) But I learned a lot of stuff that helped me on quiz team and I did fairly decent (even though I didn't do much homework at all) but it didn't really matter. This class was seriously dumbed-down since the class was full of dunces and everyone had to pass somehow.

10th Period Lifestyles w/Mr. Stec - A-
Ok -- maybe Senior year classes weren't *THAT* bad. Some teachers actually accept lower pay to have the opportunity to teach bright young stars. And Mr. Stec was certainly one of them. He made this class what it was meant to be -- educational and spiritual, both at the same time. A psychologist by trade, Mr. Stec understood the needs of the students and knew how to keep our attention. And we learned quite a lot too...stuff I could remember.
That was amazing. Padua needs more teachers like him.

Semester 2 - TOTAL SLACK OFF SEMESTER WITH A CUMULATIVE 2.563 GPA (2.23 4th quarter :)

4th Period Social Justice w/Mr. Keavy - A- Remember how I gave Keavy's class like, a D in sophomore year? It's amazing what a change in attitude will do for a class. In my 2 years between the two classes, I grew to learn a couple things. First, I went to school to LEARN. And second, Mr. Keavy was there to make us LEARN. And I had a desire to LEARN and to UNDERSTAND. I never previously thought I could associate with Keavy, but in all honesty, we both have the very same attitude and personality. And his favorite musical artist is Peter Gabriel too!

10th Period Government w/Mrs. Pfingsten - D Another class that puts a HORRIBLE taste in my mouth. But it was probably my fault more than anything. Second semester I had absolutely no desire to do any kind of work whatsoever. Sure, I'll write a 12-page paper for Keavy but for Lady Pfingsten? Nah. I'll pass. I'll just sit tight at my desk and draw pictures of Jen Braat on the Witches Wheel and show them to Lisa and Pam across from me. And that was the saving grace of the class -- I had a lot of friends in there, so it doesn't get an F. But it would've been nicer if I had them in a better class. Government is boring. Pfingsten is boring. She wasn't a hard teacher, but she was totally disgustingly boring.
I don't enjoy boring classes.

11th Period Photography w/Mrs. Horton - B+ Horton is great. She's upbeat and fun and all-around a good teacher. I really enjoyed that class and I sat next to John Humphrey and we had philisophical discussion a lot. That was fun. I learned how to make pictures too, which was a lot of fun. In fact, it was more than fun -- you could do 0% work and still enjoy the class and get a good grade. You could do 100% work and still enjoy the class and get a good grade. It didn't matter what attitude you took into that class -- you came out with a smile on your face!

So long and have a wonderful day!

-Chris A. Czaplicki