Jake Niebaum
On a whim, I looked up Mrs. Cleeves' name. I was a 7th grade student of hers at Cunha Intermediate School in the 1978-79 school year. I don't know how I remember her name is Cheryl because it's not in our school yearbook, but I thought it was Cheryl, possibly because she had made such an impression on me and I remembered her name. I was saddened to find her obituary, and sorry to see that she had gone at a relatively early age. I think when I was a 7th grade boy I didn't truly appreciate how much of a good teacher she was and how much I learned in her class, but as I've gotten older I started to realize more, and I was thinking maybe I'd try to contact her and communicate that to her.
I've realized that many science skills I have now and that I drew upon in college, I actually learned in her class when I was in 7th grade. How to use and care for a triple-beam balance (way more fun to use than a digital balance), how to use and care for a microscope, how to read the level on a graduated cylinder (the bottom of the meniscus!). Also some great memories I have of that age are from her class, like observing micro-organisms such a paramecium and amoeba through a microscope (I'm not sure I even did that in college biology), her bringing in a goat carcass to show us its anatomy, dissecting frogs, learning about atoms, and the egg drop design challenge.
I was not that great of a student through middle school and high school, as I was much more concentrated on cross country and track and I think I had attention-deficit issues and poor reading skills, but when it came time that I had to pick a major when I was transferring from junior college to university and I really had no clue what I wanted to do, I thought back to how interested I was in the activities in her class, and I picked biology as a major. I got my BS in biology in 1990.
I now work in education, but mainly as a substitute teacher, sometimes as a long-term sub, and am reminded more and more of how awesome her class was.
Rest in peace, Mrs. Cleeves. I miss you, I miss your class. I'm not sure I really knew it at the time I was a 12-13 year old boy, but I loved your class.
Jake Niebaum, graduate Cunha Intermediate School 1980