Recognition Series: pt 11. - Walter I, Chris B, Joe M, Dave L

This is a little bit different, as all three of the people above are teachers, not students. Walter I was my first semester English 103 professor. Though I exempted this course through my score from the English AP test, I opted to take it anyway, and I'm so glad that I did. We did some interesting studies of music videos and even ended up creating a video about cell phones for our final group project. Walter was one who loved setting a class dynamic and really making the course more about discussion than assignments and essays. Sure, we still had homework that focused on various parts of the art of language, but most of the time in class, we were discussing. He was very young, from Chile, and I believe that this was his first time teaching this particular course. I'd recommend him to anyone in any year.

Chris B was my English teacher the following year, though this course was required. It was much more focused around epic poems, short stories and the like. But in terms of writing, I became so much more inspired and really enjoyed writing the essays for his class. If I remember correctly, this class was a lot of the reason why I really wanted to start a blog. I felt so mentally challenged and the comments he would write on my papers were so flattering. He was one of those professors that was very easy going and understanding, really knew his stuff and really was engaged in what he was teaching. Again, he enjoyed discussion much more than assignments. I could actually totally see him as a writer...

Joe M taught my very first semester of studio (which was the second half of freshman year). Only a PhD student, it was the first time Joe had every taught a studio. Given that we were freshmen and didn't know what to expect, Joe had us do some really unorthodox, or rather atypical, things that ranged from watching movies in class to reading long articles that really made no sense to us at the time. Coming out of that class, we all loved him. He gave us the reins to our projects, he challenged us to do things on our own and only ask for help when help was needed, and he was encouraging, positive, and knowledgeable. He even let me use a brand new program that I barely had any idea how to work. But he helped me along and got me resources and everything worked out. While other studios slaved on drawings and things like that, I think we really embraced the full essence of architecture that semester. I don't know if Joe taught again after our class, but he was amazing.

The final teacher is Dave L. Dave was well known as the hardest professor for sophomore year. A couple friends and I decided we wanted a challenge. We pulled more all nighters than any other studio, moved at ridiculous speeds, learned new computer programs and were just pushed, day in and day out, for the entire semester. It could not have been more difficult, since we had him sophomore year, first semester. This was the first time studio was truly studio, and not just the fun "arts and crafts" version of freshman year.

Despite all the work and seemingly unreachable deadlines, about 2/3 of us decided to take him again for the second semester of the year. Dave is the reason I use Rhino for all my projects, he is the reason why I'll put getting my project done over all other things if need be, and he even was a cyclist, and took our studio to Greenville to go on a trail ride. I think that all the hard work brought the people in that section together, and I actually have a lot of really good friends from that studio. It was clearly how it was meant to begin!