Wally "Tornado" Root

Original Dates: Fall 1987 - Summer 1989

We've experienced some pretty strange weather this year so far. It's 51 degrees outside right now. We're in the middle of February! Whenever I experience abnormal weather, it reminds me of junior high school science class with Mr. Root. His full name was Wally T. Root. Since he was so much into weather, my friends and I made the "T" stand for "Tornado!"

Mr. Root was the self-proclaimed "mean, nasty ogre" and whenever students didn't pay attention to his lesson, he would sneak up and slam a metal rod on their desk. That sure woke everyone up! The image of an ogre with a metal rod reminded me of the moblins, which were forest ogres from The Legend of Zelda that threw metal spears at Link. Despite how aggresive his teaching tactic sounds, Mr. Root was a very nice guy who was passionate about science. For homework, he not only required us to read long chapters, but we also had to outline them (and he would seriously check everyone's outlines). This alone made the amount of homework from his classes eclipse the total amount of every other class. Looking back now, I think that was the best style of learning any subject. I don't think I would've aced that class without the chapter outlines. And it prepared me for every other class I felt like acing.

Hopefully Mr. Root is still out there, spearing young punks and creating top students.