Memories From La Marque High School

Published January 29, 2006 in a supplement to the Galveston County Daily News

By Susan Criss

There are so many wonderful memories of the years I spent at La Marque High School. Many friendships formed during that time remain strong these decades later.

Memories of lessons learned from La Marque High School teachers are also abundant and cherished. The teachers and administrative staff cared deeply about the students in their charge. Some teachers whose classes I never sat in still made impressions on me that will last my entire life. Mrs. Sarah Giles, Alex Matthews, Richard Hoag and Carolyn Dyer were never designated as my teachers. But make no mistake they taught me well.

The teachers whose classes I did attend also tremendously impacted my life. The words of Tom Barber, Mike Meador,and other teachers have crossed my mind countless times over these years. Most lessons were not really appreciated until years later.

The most significant lessons came during Ed Kotch's Advanced English class. Mr. Kotch impressed upon me that I am responsible for my own education. Telling Mr. Kotch that I did not know something because no one had it to taught me was not a mistake I made twice. He did not teach us by just telling us things. He made his points in creative ways that made us realize his lessons for ourselves. He wanted us to appreciate the fallacy of justifying inadequate performance with excuses. He showed us that success requires discipline, commitment and focus. Whenever we had a written examination he did things during the entire test to deliberately distract us. Sometimes he played strange music and danced around the room. One time he redecorated his classroom. Everytime we had a test he did something completely different. We had to learn to ignore him to pass the test. During the last test that I took in his classroom he sat at his desk and did nothing. And that was the most distracting act he ever did. We kept waiting to see what different thing he would do this time.

The anticipation was unnerving. At the time I must admit I found the lessons to be more annoying than inspiring. During the stresses of college and law school I thanked Ed Kotch in my head hundreds of times for teaching me about discipline and responsibility.

I feel very lucky to have been the student of Ed Kotch and all of the other wonderful teachers from La Marque High School.