Mildly Frightening/Reaching Across Generations

I was part of the first class from Blue Mound who entered Meridian High School as a freshman, and I had heard faint rumors about the hard-nosed biology teacher: extensive bug collections, daily quizzes, intense tests, lab practicals, and then…. the dissection of the cat. I was oblivious, it was science, better than that - biology! How hard could it be?
The high school hosted a welcoming party for all the students and their parents who would be attending the new Meridian High school that fall. It was a pretty unremarkable night up until we took a short tour of the school. I remember several students clustered around a lighted doorway, and inside there were display cases and animals is jars, skeletons on the wall, a cage with a live tarantula, and volumes of old books. It looked like a museum. I have no idea if this door was supposed to be open, but my parents and I meandered in. My mother was fascinated, I was mildly frightened. A rubber bat hung from the ceiling with a dried moth in its mouth. Like a cat, my mother reached up to make it fly about on it’s string and the moth shoots out of the bat’s mouth and on to the floor. At that point I notice the man behind us, the infamous Mr. Coate, with a stern expression, and suddenly I notice we’re the only people in the room. This was not a friendly looking teacher. I was suddenly afraid that I might not be liked in his class. My father- being the socialite that he is- started up a conversation, “This is right up Marthe’s alley, she wants to be a marine biologist!” At which point Mr. Coat says I should be taking his biology course, along with zoology, microbiology, anatomy… I thought the list would go on forever. Aren’t these college courses? I was hoping I would be forget-able within this large freshman class of 116 students. My mom broke the rubber bat! I was mortified!
First semester of my freshman year I managed to be fairly average, I got a C. I refused to believe that it was necessary for me to study everyday. My parents had no sympathy. If I was going to have a “pop quiz” four out of five days a week, then I should know how to prepare for it. So I put my nose to the grindstone and read, every night, and eventually I turned that grade around. I took 2 more classes with Mr. Coate before graduating, and now hoping to stand out as opposed to blending into the hallways. I discovered I enjoyed anatomy, and dissection and understanding how the body works. I would spend time after school in the lab room looking at those animals is jars and trying to put them in the correct phylo-genetic class. I encouraged my younger sisters to take the class, and prepared them not to make my mistakes. (I’m still a little sore that they seemed to do better than me, never getting that C on their mid-term report card.)

What I take with me from Mr. Coate’s class is the leg up it gave me on my future studies that eventually have led me to medical school and beyond. I still think fondly of my high school teacher who challenged me and fostered my love of science. I would like to thank him for his years of hard work dedicated to the students of Macon and Meridian High Schools, and reassure him that if he has touched others lives in just a part of the way he has touched mine, the effects of his teaching will reach a few more generations.

Marthe Phelps, MD
Meridian High School, Class of 1998
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Class of 2002
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Class of 2006
First Year Pediatric Resident, University of Iowa, Class of 2009