John H Reagan High School - Spur Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Ai Jennifer Clark watches, Gaye Gibich prepares to heat her lest tube for the lab. W:i. .I SlJ ann • ■nk■ll John S7endr. Mi. Carmella LaValle helps sophotnore Sam Allen collect the right chemicals for his lab. CO 5 o o CD 101

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0) o c 0) o CO WliL r- ' t§i . . .T ' Have you ever wondered who is respon- sible for ordering the formaldehyde your cat sits in before you dissect him? Or who buys the paper the chemistry tests are printed on? Mr. William Manahan is your man. As chairman of the Science department, he ordered everything from erasers to duplicating machines, and then some. It ' s very lime-consuming. There just aren ' t enough hours in the day. I ' m very busy, he said. Mr. Manahan said he got his position certainly not by volunteering, but because all the teachers got together and decided I was the only one who knows where everything is. His most important duty, he says, is reviewing the curriculum, or as he puts it making sure we ' re teaching what needs to be taught. Every dept. had certain guidelines it is supposed to follow, and he is responsible for making sure the Science dept. follows those guidelines. Over the years, Mr. Manahan has learned one thing about students. They go through cycles. Right now they are on the upswing, complacemenl. But there are those which have reading and writing problems. We have to water down (make overly simple) such subjects as science and math, he commented. The reward for teaching, to Mr. Manahan, is having ex-students who have gone through college come back and remember you and what you taught them. And there is some satisfaction in it. After a while you feel you need to contribute something to society, he said. Frahman Cheryl Jones weighs a kilogram mass to determine the friction of a surface in Mr. Szen- drey ' s Physical Science class. Getting hydrochloric acid Irom the supply table is one Julie Rod looks at the results of her tests in the With the same authority he uses to coach hisiiethill. of the steps John Perkins must do to complete his lab chemistry lab. Coach Gail Simpson explains the DNA factor, assignment. No fish out of water, Mr. Jeff Schwarz knows how to handle the ladies when the choir Mi. Suzanne SinUn shows her freshman physical brings him a singing Valagram during his Oceanography class on Valentine ' s Day. science class how to conduct a lab experiment Delivering the message are Rebecca Ancira, Patty Bailey and Lori Entrop. with chemicals and beaker. 100

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WQ)W i laiwsi t tf 0) • mm D CO 15 o o CO When Mr. Travis Greenwood was 43 years old, he retired from the Air Force after serving 23 ' 2 years. He then had to decide what his second career would be. He had been a pilot instructor off and on and had enjoyed it. So, he decided to become a teacher. He has been teaching at Reagan for 15 years, and in that time has been the chairman of the Social Studies depart- ment off and on six times. Mr. Greenwood said the only prob- lem the department had this year was the reoccurring problem of teaching courses without textbooks. There is no unlimited money for books, and sometimes a course just won ' t have a textbook, related Mr. Greenwood. Another problem Social Studies teachers have arises from the cur- riculum. Since it changed, requiring either Geography or World History for graduation, and not both, the teachers in the Social Studies department were having a hard time teaching. Mr. Green- wood explained why: With only one of the two courses re- quired, a student usually takes geography in ninth grade and that ' s it. He never gets World History. Yet, when we try to teach Government, we naturally assume the stu- dent knows where law originated. Often, because they ' ve never had World History, they don ' t. What was Mr. Greenwood ' s most rewarding experience as a teacher. ' That ' s easy — observing someone learning, seeing a person analyze and evaluate so that he will do two things: 1) continue his education, not necessarily in college, and 2) become a critical citizen who ' s able to inform himself and be in- formed, said Mr. Greenwood. To celebrate ihe end of a geography unit on Latin Americ2. Ms. Lorine Clark and Cindy Johnson break a pinaia fo the class on the cafeteria stage. After asking his Government class a question, Mr. Duane Moore has to endure a typical answer from one of his students. Air. Rois Moss explains to his American History class how the gold rush helped expand the US population westward. Junior Mike Wright shakes down a potential bank rob ber (Officer Harold Hoffmeister) in Street Law class. 102