Randy Schmidt: The Impact Of Cultural Influence On My Students

A few key things happened in seventh grade, my best friend/cousin, who did not care much for school moved away. I also had a few key teachers that inspired me and pushed me towards excellence. I am going to try to mostly focus on Randy Schmidt and Seppie Myburgh. I should mention that I was attending an international (American) school in Taichung, Taiwan at the time, which was another huge influence on me, but that is a cultural influence, not a person. Randy Schmidt taught World Geography and Language Arts and was a no-nonsense, pragmatic kind of guy. He gave us homework assignments where we had to recreate maps of continents and graded not only on accuracy and completeness but also on creativity. This influenced me by allowing me to explore

Schmidt was on the culture trips we went on periodically throughout seventh grade. I honestly do not know if he was required to do this or not, but I know he came up with the majority of the itinerary on his own. These trips were incredible experiences that I would have NEVER partaken in if I was in the States. Since Morrison Christian Academy was in many ways a bubble, my Taiwanese exposure would have been severely limited without these trips. Additionally, the long bus rides and extended time with friends led to a social learning and satisfaction I often avoided because I was somewhat shy and I felt pressured by my parents to not invite friends over to do things. While all of these things were not direct influences from Mr. Schmidt, he was the head of the expedition and deserves a lot of credit for the way he managed thirty-some seventh graders of mixed gender in a way that promoted social and cultural growth. On culture trips, I learned facts about Taiwan, visited the diverse aspects that make it a society, and was able to reflect on the culture and how it affected me. I learned how to flirt with girls and let loose with guys. Sleeping in random places is not foreign to me and eating random foods is part of the adventure of life. In short, I learned more about myself and who I wanted to be on those trips and in his class than I even learned about Taiwanese culture and

Schmidt was athletic. I took elective courses from him called rock climbing and “indoor sports,” most notably handball and matball. I found that while I was “athletic” I did not have the same kind of abilities and competitiveness that other people seemed to have programmed into them. That is not to say that I was not skilled, more to say that I could not employ those skills when needed. I particularly remember playing goalie for handball one day when I was doing an especially poor job of stopping goals. Mr. Schmidt told me he had never seen me so lethargic before. The strange thing was I felt completely normal, I just did not feel the competitive drive to try my hardest. When I got my grade for his elective, I was heartbroken, I got a P instead of an E, which I think means proficient instead of excelling, which is basically a C instead of an A. I wrestled for a while over what I had done wrong and cried for the only time I can remember over a grade. It was not because I had never gotten a P before, it was more the huge respect I had for Mr. Schmidt and feeling as if I had let him down. Since then I have realized that team sports are not my cup of tea because instead of releasing a competitive pressure, I feel like every mistake I make is letting down the team. I think that is part of the reason why I am drawn to Track and Cross Country now, I can contribute to a team without being on a