Voices - Ursuline Academy

four fingers in our mouth how instrumental that whistle wouldbecome both as a mom and a coach. At each of our kid’s graduationsfrom college, that whistle was the only way we wouldever find each other in the mob.I am now coaching swimming and I can’t describe how crucialthat whistle has become in my coaching. With 180 kidson a summer swim team, it both saves my voice and ralliesthe troops to be quiet and listen. More importantly, I use thewhistle when my swimmers are racing. They can hear it whentheir heads are under water. Often they will tell me prior toa race, “start whistling if my splits are slowing down to wherethey should not be.” They also know when I am whistling likecrazy that the race is very close and they should sprint to thefinish wall.The whistle, as taught by Ms. Wertheimer, has become my“trade mark.”Sister Mary Joseph '46 (Pat Brockman)Marian King Drops '58I was able to tell Sr. Mary Joseph this in person, but everyoneshould know. She was my chemistry teacher, and a veryfine one, I might add. When I signed up for freshman chemistryat the College of Mt. St. Joseph, the instructor asked me what Ihad learned already in high school. He then advised me to signup for a different science class because he said, “There’s nothingmore I can teach you than you already learned at Ursuline.”Also, because I had such fine instruction in English literatureand writing, I was excused from freshman English and wasplaced instead in a seminar with six students and six faculty. Itwas an amazing experience. Thank you, Ursuline Academy, andmy wonderful teachers for fully preparing me for college andso much more!Sisters Merici, Mary Joseph, JoanNancy Nienaber Hartings '61As a sophomore we had Sr. Merici for biology class. Shegave a final exam in which there were one hundred true/falsequestions. As it turned out, all of the questions were true,unbeknownst to our struggling minds. We simply had to circlethe number of the questions we thought were “false”. Howeasy was that for her to grade the test, knowing at first glancethe incorrect answers and then figuring the grade. AfterwardsI thought she was very clever. As we neared the time for theexam to be handed in, I noticed that not too many questionswere false although I had put question marks next to the onesI was unsure of. As the test ended, I quickly circled the questionableones and there went my grade in the tank!…….well,just how clever was I? I learned a lot more than biology fromSister Merici.I owe my love for chemistry to Sr. Mary Joseph. I had alwaysdisliked science classes, but her knowledge and explanationof chemistry captured my mind, and opened up the scientificworld to me. I went on to college to major in the subject andlater to teach it in high school. I shall always be grateful to her.I will always remember Sr. Joan Brosnan who taught juniorEnglish, American literature. I was never a fast or even goodreader, but her knowledge and skills at teaching instilled inme a love for literature and reading that today brings me greatpleasure. However, one book I hope has been taken from thereading list…The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I hopesomeone “got real” and is sparing our present generations thisagony with the only ecstasy being turning the last page.VOICES SUMMER 201115