I am someone interested in how things work. So when I saw the course biotechnology, I had to sign up. When I mention biotech to people, they appear lost. What is biotech? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like: biology and technology influencing each other.

On the first day as I walked into Mr. Bisbee’s class, he had a serious look on his face. He then gave me his head nod and said, “Mr. Kobb.” “Mr. Bisbee,” I said and noded back. I could not help but smile. The year before, I played JV golf, and Mr. Bisbee coaches the team.

Moments into the class, I learned we would be doing fun things like making yogurt and extracting DNA from our favorite food. On a more serious note, I learned Mr. Bisbee was strict, but for good reasons. He did not want expensive equipment damaged. And he said, “It doesn’t matter if you are sick or have other plans, you need to get assignments in on time.”

As we progressed into the school year, I became accustomed to the unique teaching styles of Mr. Bisbee. He gave us scripts with oddly named characters about the upcoming unit. Students would pair up and read them to each other.

“I want you to act,” he told us, “be theatrical.” If you have met Mr. Bisbee, he doesn’t seem like the outspoken, theatrical type of person. One class, he showed a different side of himself as he skipped around the room with music, wearing a sombrero and decorative shirt. “Ole,” he proclaimed. Mr. Bisbee can be theatrical too. I remember Mr. Bisbee had us gather in the hallway, and we would do quick activities to help us visualize microscopic objects we can’t see such as DNA. As nucleotides, phosphate, and base pairs, we laughed in the hallway—we were the human DNA strand.

In most classes, we listened to Mr. Bisbee’s lecture followed by a lab. When Mr. Bisbee talked, kids would zone out halfway through. I had my moments too, but I believe I was one of the more attentive students—even with ADD. His lectures/teachings were most entertaining when he would talk about applying biotec to careers. In our first unit, Mr. Bisbee told us about ethanol, an alternative source for gas. Many people have heard about using corn to make ethanol, but if we could use cellulose (30% of the world’s plant matter that nearly no creatures can consume) to make ethanol, that would be much cheaper, less wasteful, and would create a large supply of ethanol.

Thanks to Mr. Bisbee I will consider a career in biotech. Even though I’m not going to take anymore of his classes, I still have more Mr. Bisbee to experience. I am looking forward to playing varsity golf with him next season. In the meantime, I can look forward to our head nods.