Dr Wiest

I received this funny message from a student:

Isn’t it about time you changed the description of your
blog?

“a mathematics teacher at an international school tries
to find ten minutes of peace during a hectic day” to
“a mathematics/history/TOK teacher at an international school tries to find ten
minutes of peace during a hectic day”

No, I don't think so, because I started as a mathematics teacher, so it is first in my heart.

However, I started in Thailand as a science teacher, and now I'm trying to get as far away as possible from viruses, sulfuric acid, and high voltages. My goal is to next become an art teacher, then a PE teacher, and finally a House Leader! Just kidding.

At college, I received A's in Calculus. My Calculus teacher, who was also my physics teacher, Dr. Wiest, then gave me a job being a Calculus tutor, running the"tutorials" and "recitations", so that's where I got my start. One day, in Physics Lab, we were working with excited gases, and the instrumentation said "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE!" in about 15 places. Idiotically, I grabbed a metal tray with one hand while my other hand was removing a gas tube from the high voltage instrument. Thousands of volts ran through me and I felt terrible pain. I went running up and down the hallway screaming:

"SHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!"

That night I couldn't sleep because I felt so much pain in my teeth. The next day I went to the Dean of Students, and said:

"I want to change my major."

"To what?"

"English."

"Why?"

"I want something safe."

The Dean of Students told me to wait 24 hours before filling in the paperwork. The next morning Dr. Wiest talked to me, and persuaded me to stay in Physics. There were many reasons, but one good reason was this: I could keep my job teaching Calculus, which I loved so much, and which provided me with money I needed to stay in school.