I had never been one for the social sciences in high school. I never found history or government particularly interesting nor had I ever had a teacher who really piqued my interest in the subject. For me it usually came down to just memorizing facts and figuring out how to regurgitate it on a test, hopefully a multiple choice one. This all changed my senior year at Chantilly High School. Ms. Donovan was notorious for being a dictator in the classroom. When my friends found out I had gotten her they all groaned sympathetically for me. I on the other hand wasn’t too worried. I had always been a good student and I didn’t mind studying. I found the harder classes were more interesting and oftentimes not nearly as boring as the easy ones.
As I walked into her classroom on the first day of class the first thing I noticed was a few U2 posters on the wall facing the door. Since U2 happens to be one of my favorite bands at least I could say my first impression was a good one. Ms. Donovan was hardly an intimidating woman, she was about 5’7” and 120 pounds, not exactly a menacing frame. As she passed out syllabi I was interested to find out just what was so horrible about her class. As the year began I found my niche. Ms. Donovan was a teacher who expected the best out of you, because she knew that you could do it. She would not accept something less than what she knew you were capable of.
There are two specific memories that really stand out from that year. My first favorable memory surrounds one of our major projects. Since it was a government class one of our main projects for the year was to write a new bill that we hoped to be passed by our mock congress. At this time I was considering a career in law so this project was right up my alley. We had to choose a subject but it had to be something that we thought could actually be a bill in the future, nothing too outrageous. I chose the death penalty as my topic with my bill surrounding the fact that it was unconstitutional under the eighth amendment, cruel and unusual punishment. I dove right in. I read every book that there was about prisoners and their death row experiences. I also took it upon myself to go to the Library of Congress to do research. To this day I remember the weather the day I took the train into the city to go do my research. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect some would say to be outside; perfect I said to be doing research! What can I say, to this day I am a research junkie. Needless to say this paper turned out to be one of my best. It was over 10 pages long and argued my point extensively. I still keep not only a hard copy but a computer version of it as well. I was so proud of that paper and so proud that I earned an A from Ms. Donovan on it.
My second memory follows the bill project very closely. As I mentioned we were going to be conducting a mock congress later in the year, after we had all written our bills. The idea behind this mock congress was to see which of our classmates’ bills would pass based on the arguments for or against. As Ms. Donovan was explaining how the mock congress was going to work, she explained that we were going to be assigned roles. For example, there would be a Speaker of the House, and then representatives. Each role would be given the appropriate powers just as in a real session of Congress. When the time came to select roles for people, I was honored when Ms. Donovan chose me to be the Speaker of the House. Now we had quite a crowd of characters in my class, most of which I had known for years, as we had all been in the same school system together for oh at least 10 years. The boy who was our high school mascot was in my class, Chris Frazier. We got along just fine but if you gave either of us the opportunity to tease or pick on each other, we were all over it. So with my triumphant victory of the Speaker of the House position, I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to not let Chris’s legalize marijuana bill pass through the House. As we quickly learned about the House of Representatives, no one can speak unless granted permission by the Speaker. And this my friends, was my ticket to make Chris’s life miserable. The day arrived of mock Congress and I assumed my position at the head of the class as Speaker. As we brought congress into session Chris and I locked eyes. I called to order the first bill for nomination. Chris immediately raised his hand to enter his bill. I let him introduce his bill and give us the background and then the rest of us went to work. Once I let him introduce his bill I went on a power trip. Every time he raised his hand to speak I gave him a little grin and passed over him. Now I’m sure you are thinking how mean I was, but in all honesty we all were having a great time with this and there was much laughing throughout. Even Ms. Donovan was thoroughly enjoying the class dynamics as we stepped into our roles as the House of Representatives. I eventually gave Chris his five seconds of fame but alas the legalization of marijuana was not to be in my House of Representatives. It was a great lesson for all of us and we didn’t even realize that we were learning because we were having so much fun. This experience leads me into my final thought about this class.
A month and a half before school ended I was in a bad car accident. I was hospitalized for a week and remained on bed rest for three weeks after that. All of my teachers were very supportive of course and helped me make up work or even excused some work for me. I still have all of the cards given to me from that accident and one of my favorites is the card that Ms. Donovan and my 12th grade government class signed for me. My favorite quote from that card is “You will always be the Speaker of the House in my book,” Chris Frazier. Ms. Donovan took a class full of kids with different learning desires and allowed us to become friends while experiencing 12th grade government on a level that we enjoyed. I don’t think that anyone walked away from that class unhappy that we had all been assigned to Ms. Donovan’s class that year. I know I sure wasn’t. To this day Ms. Donovan is one of the three teachers that I stay in touch with from my High School career. I have since seen her at her engagement party and pregnant at an Aerosmith concert. She was not only my teacher but also a friend. I will always have the memories, and my death penalty paper to remind me of how much fun I had that dreaded senior year of high school.
-- Niki Carter, American University