Physics Hubbub

This was one of the more interesting scenes in my school career at OCHS. Jiri Jelen the teacher at the right of the photo, taught physics. He was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. He spoke softly and was heavily accented. He never had a commanding presence at school. He favourite line was "I did not become a teacher to be a policeman".

Unfortunately the class dominated him. There was always a din of voices. It was mob rule in Grade 12 physics. Mr. Jelen had his revenge.

At the end of the school term, one could be exempted from final exams upon the discretion of the teacher. By the time that we reached Grade 12, most of us were good enough students to be exempted and most of us were. After all, OCHS in the early days was a brains factory. In this photo alone, is a future: Mayo Clinic professor of medicine, a chief scientist for the country's nuclear power program, a high school science teacher and a government functionary.

At the end of the year, Mr. Jelen exempted exactly two people. One of them was me, and the other was Doug Zochodne who is not pictured here. Doug is a research physician and a professor of Neurophysiology.

Pictured here from left to right are Liz Fitzpatrick, Mike Ivanco, Shawn O'Driscoll, Bert Hoefs, Kathy Kowalski and John Ten Haaf with Mr. Jelen behind the desk.