A trip down memory lane leads to the recesses of the 1997 Trinity Shamrock, pages 40-41. Looking fondly at the late, great Mr. Gene Eckert and with deep respect for the ever energetic Dr. Tom Zehnder, the eye focuses on the middle of the spread, where one finds this feature story:

“Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” — Zehnder vs Eckert

As in the Bible story about the Tower of Babel, God made it so that many languages were spoken.

The business and social studies departments are blessed with a little language diversity as well.

Mr. Gene Eckert, a social studies teacher is — no pun intended — in a class of his own.

A few “Eckertisms” are as follows:

* “Hello, my fellow American.”

* “Lad!”

* “See you on the boat.”

* “The proverbial plot begins to thicken.”

* “Yeeess, time is of the essence.”

* “Are you going to the race — the human race?”

A colleague of Eckert’s, Mr. Tom Zehnder, has a few phrases of his own. A sampling:

* “Hello, friend.”

* “Beam me up, Scotty — there’s no intelligent life down here!”

* “Keep the masses entertained.”

* “Sports is the opiate of the people.”

* “Life is too short not to call her back.”

Zehnder explained his philosophy: “Before you can teach, you need to get the students’ attention.  Zehnder, who hasn’t given a JUG since 1980, said, “One way to get attention is to use JUG; another is to use humor, and that is the way I like to do it.”

Eckert is also a proponent of humor to keep attention.

He said, “If students enjoy coming to class, then they will enjoy the subject being taught.”