Wise Beyond The Classroom

Our Laguna Blanca Magazine featured alumni reflections on the teachers who challenged, inspired, and shaped them. Here, we continue the story with more memories from alumni across the decades. Thank you to all who shared their and to the Laguna teachers whose impacts lasts well beyond the classroom.

Dr. Larry Miller

Dr. Miller was the consummate professor. He was fair, honest, and incredibly demanding, but his curriculum went far beyond the typical college classroom. He challenged me to think in ways I never knew I was capable of and pushed me to use parts of my brain I didn’t realize existed. His expectations were high, and excellence was always the standard. His guidance and relentless encouragement to do better made college far less daunting. I remain deeply grateful even 30 years later.
~ Paige McClean '94

First, every single teacher had a special impact. However, Dr. Larry Miller was the most creative, inspiring English teacher. Amazing projects included: reading Dante’s Inferno and then writing a creative piece on a specific “level of hell.” We each mesmerized a literary passage of choice to record a collective Fahrenheit 451 project/video, and we watched 12 Angry Men (jury portions) and deliberated as the jury before watching the entire movie. Dr. Miller encouraged us to be creative, to think critically, and engage in thoughtful discussion, all at 8am.
~ Lanikai Clouse '93

Dr. Peter Lorber

Dr. Peter Lorber not only expanded my knowledge of science, but he taught me how to be inquisitive and think in new ways. This applied to all my subjects in college, graduate school, and in life.
~ Becky (Cleek) Barton '82

Middle and Upper School Science Teacher Dr. Peter Lorber was a Scientific Svengali. His stories and teaching style were impossible to ignore, and he motivated me to want to learn more and dig deeper into every topic in our courses. He also supervised the first and only archery club Laguna ever had, which led to shooting arrows as far as they would fly, even when they landed in the yard of a Laguna neighbor hundreds of yards away!
~Geof Wyatt '79

Dana White

Upper School English Teacher Mr. Dana White introduced me to Shakespeare by having us read Macbeth. Evil never seemed so attractive as in the hands of Lady Macbeth.
~Geof Wyatt '79

Susan Steiner

Enormously impactful, intellectual, and challenging! Mrs. Susan Steiner taught The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Guys and Dolls, and Baker Street. I’ll never forget how much she encouraged me to leave the comforts of Southern California to go to school in the Northeast.
~Geof Wyatt '79

Virginia Crockett

Virginia Crockett made European and Asian history come alive. Her spritely personality imbued every class with spirited discussion and disagreement!
~Geof Wyatt '79

Wes Hensley

Mr. Hensley combined a very unique sense of humor with academic rigor as he ignited a passion for learning Spanish in his students. I remember one word I could never seem to remember, which was "wall" in Spanish (pared). After the umpteenth time I couldn't remember it, he suggested I (gently) thump my head repeatedly against the wall, saying pared, pared, pared. It worked! Also, he frequently put his tie on his head in protest of the teachers' dress-code in those days, something I’ve been known to do once the dance floor gets going at weddings.
~Blake Dorfman '02