My Favorite Teacher

He was actually my homeroom teacher as well. He was caring, listened to you if there was an issue or a problem you might have been having. He also made me feel valued and liked I belonged. I still think of him and admire him to this day and I’m 63, he was the best. ~ Carl Todd ’76

My mentor and second dad. He help on my career as a musician and with life. ~ Robert Yamaguchi ’67

He treated me like an adult. ~ Cleo Vae Bryant (Hadley, dv.) Peifer ’61

Besides being knowledgeable in science subjects he made it interesting. ~ Allen Storaasli ’62

Mr. Holte did an excellent job of teaching mathematics. I excelled at algebra and geometry but took no math during my junior year. When I signed up for trig as a senior, Mr. Holte made a big show (in front of his class) of me being one of his prize students – he lived to regret it. With me being a senior with a bunch of juniors, I was the BMOC and goofed off during the entire semester. On the weekend before the final test, I actually took my trig book home and studied hard for the first time at CHS. I took the final and thought I did well. On our last day of class, Mr. Holte handed out the report cards but asked me to stay after class for a couple of minutes. After everyone had left, he came back to my seat and said . . . “I don’t know how you did it, but I know you cheated on the test. “I can’t prove it, so I’m going to give you the B- you got on your test.” I didn’t argue with him or try to explain. I thanked him and left. Three plus years later I was out of the service when I ran into Mr. Holte at a wedding. I reminded him of our little chat at CHS and him accusing me of cheating on my trig test. He could hardly believe that he had done such a thing. I didn’t think badly of Mr. Holte for accusing me of cheating. I thought he did the right thing. I had a similar experience at the UW in a differential equations class. ~ John Barton ’54

Mr. Blix made the class interesting. He was really nice. He also had a cool car! We also worked in groups. ~ Carrie Alefaio ’87

I actually don’t think I had a single favorite teacher at CHS, but Mr. Kinkade stands out; he made a big difference in my life. I always thought I was “bad at math,” but he believed in me enough to urge me to take calculus, and lo and behold, I found I could do it with his help! At the time it was still somewhat unusual for teachers to encourage girls to challenge themselves in mathematics (I hope that’s changed by now!), which makes his support that much more remarkable. I went on to become a veterinarian, and I’m sure my foundation in math helped me to get there. ~ Kathy Johnson ’75

Great rapport with students…made his classes fun. He really cared about his students, remembered us and always had a special word…often teasing and a smile. ~ Marlene Omey Ellingson ’55

Mr. Langley had a way of teaching US History that make the events real to his student. He had a humorous element in his teaching and would include background facts that were not in our history books. I was fortunate to stay in contact with him until his passing. Outside of the classroom, he had a wonderful voice and sang, and was also a comedian outside of school. ~ Alison Sing ’64

“Coach” or “Wild Bill” was one of the nicest and most unassuming guys I ever met. I doubt that many knew that he had been a big track star at the U of W where he ran the two mile. ~ Ronald Van Norman ’59

His use of story and metaphor when teaching was powerful. He inspired me to get degrees in Health/PE and Teaching. ~ Erik Gibson ’91

His hands-on approach to problem solving taught me things that would benefit me to this day. Some of us got to fly as passengers in a small plane with him, which encouraged me to learn to fly later in life. Plus, his demeanor and sense of humor….. He made a person feel like they weren’t being “taught at”. ~ Rick Streifel ’71

He was always there for you and would ride you when he knew you could be better. He treated you like family. He always felt like he was a second dad. He made getting through HS easier. He was an amazing basketball and softball coach too! I miss him a lot! ~ Dawn Harris (Wilkerson) ’85

I always wanted to thank the teacher who made the biggest impact on my life. The only thing that brought any joy to my high school years, was art. I was into photography and pencil drawing, before I came to her Art Class. I wound up taking jewelry and ceramics but I liked her classes the best. I was proud to have contributed photographs to the Eagle Annual in ’73. It was her attitude that just kept me going, giving me ideas and projects that tested my abilities. Some worked, like the Cat In The Hat I painted above the art room door, as my contribution to Pop Art. Some didn’t, like an extra large fiberglass eagle for the Gymnasium. But every time I worked on it, it was trashed the next day. I gave that one up. I tried to learn calligraphy because she was so good at it. That didn’t end well. The photography was what stuck. While I was on a 2 year waiting list for a degree program in photography at Seattle Community College, I enrolled in the Biomedical Photography Course at B.C.C., now Bellevue College. While there I wound up loving Photojournalism, so I stuck with that instead. And my knowledge of film is what got my foot in the door in the Post Production world, in Los Angeles. I wound up working on films, commercials and music videos. I’m retired now, and I still look forward to taking pictures. ~ Jim Dilonardo ’73

Linda was my favorite teacher at CHS because each time I wanted to drop out, or get my GED and she would give me hope that I could be something in life because of her I successfully completed cosmetology & esthetician school at Paul Mitchell the school Thank you so much Linda for your ongoing support. ~ Shaun Bernal ‘14