UC Student Honors His Former High School Teacher for Enthusiasm, Humor and Respect

“Mike Marchal taught me how to read. I mean read in the sense of interpreting and interrogating literature with the full potential of one’s critical abilities,” says Matt Weber, a senior English major in the University of Cincinnati’s McMicken College of Arts & Sciences (A&S).

That passion for teaching how to interpret, appreciate and celebrate literature makes Mike Marchal of North Avondale, a St. Xavier High School English teacher, one of four Tristate teachers to be honored with UC’s Cincinnati USA Outstanding Educator Award.

Marchal, who has worked as a teacher for 39 years, will be honored at UC’s Commencement Ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 13, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. Marchal will be presented with a $1,000 UC scholarship to be awarded to a high school senior of his choosing who plans to attend UC in the 2009-2010 academic year.

Weber’s nomination of Marchal for the award was selected from 18 recommendations of soon-to-graduate UC students who wanted to honor a K-12 educator who inspired them to work toward a college degree. The nominations were reviewed by a UC committee that included representation from the Office of the President, UC faculty, staff and students.

Weber, who lives in Clifton, graduates with his bachelor’s degree in June. “Had I not been lucky enough to fall into Mr. Marchal’s classroom, I might be a business school dropout by now,” he says.

Marchal remembers his former student had a mischievous sense of humor blended with a personal enthusiasm for education. “He didn’t start out as the most serious of students, but he got hooked on literature,” Marchal says. “I remember that he and a classmate had once organized a series of little pranks for April Fools Day, so I decided to get even. Two days later, they got a note from the principal’s office, directing them to report to Room 1557-B. It turned out to be one of the men’s rooms next to the chapel. They found a note on the mirror, which read, ‘Happy belated April Fools Day from one of your English teachers,” Marchal recalls with a laugh.

In the classroom, Weber says his former teacher had one reaction that brought on a specific laugh – a sound he’ll never forget. “We would be talking about a book and as the conversation would progress, we would be led to these deeper conversations. Then, we’d reach that moment when we got it, when we realized what was going on, and he would burst out with this laugh that was impossible to imitate.

“As a college student and a future graduate student, and as I delve into more sophisticated theory, I’ve sometimes worried about losing the enjoyment of books, which is the most basic reason to read them,” Weber says. “Then I remember this smart, demanding teacher that asked us to interrogate literature, and I’d remember those ‘Ah-ha!’ moments that signified the sheer enjoyment of reading.

“There’s also something else that Mike always said in the classroom that meant so much for students to hear. When someone would ask a question, or when he saw a student really stretching, he would say, ‘It’s nice to have intelligent students in the classroom.’ Hearing that you’re smart from someone you respect so much, it means so much,” says Weber.

“The thing that parenting and teaching have in common is that you have succeeded when they don’t need you anymore. You say goodbye and good luck,” says Marchal. “But also, a little appreciation truly feels good.”

This December marks the fourth year that UC has presented the Cincinnati USA Outstanding Educator Awards to recognize the lifelong inspiration of K-12 educators. The students and their honorees will join UC President Nancy L. Zimpher at a special luncheon that will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec, 13, in Room 850 of the Richard E. Lindner Center.

Read More About the Cincinnati USA Outstanding Educator Award

UC Commencement Web site