I got lucky to have the grand slam teacher, Mr. Albers, the crocodile hunter of environmental biology class. He is also the girls’ Varsity softball coach for Arrowhead.
Right away, I could tell he was an easy person to get along with. He was friendly, and he knew how to joke around with my class. I was skeptical at first because I hated anything to do with science. And, I mean HATED! Then, to my own disbelief, I was looking forward to his classes, paying attention, volunteering/participating in class and actually getting a decent grade in a science class! I never thought anyone could make me interested in a subject that I previously hated. In class Mr. Albers didn’t have us sitting around doing boring work like most teachers; instead, he would get us excited about what we were doing by going outside being active and learning about the things we see in our day-to-day life, but never really took notice before.
Mr. Albers showed me we need to take better care of our environment. He inspired me in many ways, and this made me want to do something about the harmful things happening to our environment. To make a difference, I joined Earth Club at our school.
Mr. Albers not only opened my eyes to concepts and ideas I never noticed before, but he also was the type of teacher I could joke with. He let me speak out about my opinions and he never judged me, which was nice because I’m the type of person who hates talking in front of people. I felt comfortable in his class because he treated all his students with respect. I never hesitated to say what was on my mind!
Mr. Alber’s class did not turn out to be the easy A it had a reputation to be. He established clear expectations about the work required to get a good grade and still made it fun to learn. After my first semester of taking his class, I was done with my science credits. You’d think I’d be running as far away as I could from Science after I finally got my final science credit, but I enjoyed his class so I decided to take his class for another semester.
If anyone is to win this award, it is undeniably Mr. Albers. He is the perfect candidate, containing a sense of humor, inspiration to teach, and down-to-earth atmosphere.