Erich Finch Guest Writer For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Erich. My mom is the eighth grade dean and PE teacher. Everyone asks me what is it like having a parent on the staff. They always assume awkward. It looks awkward, sounds awkward, but very rarely is awkward. My experience at Latin is not as different as you may think it would be than anyone else here. But at the same time it has been a unique and unforgettable one. When I say I am a lifer at Latin, I mean that more than half of my life has been spent at this school. I remember my mom taking me in to work some days. “This is mommy’s school,” she’d say as we would walk in up the purple tiles. I followed her down to her office and she would take me to the cafeteria, and I was amazed that lunch could taste that good – even before the days of Quest. My mom held my first birthday parties at Latin. We would lock up a gym invite the grade over for pizza and dodgeball. Sometimes we even got the pool. Perhaps the best part of being the son of a field hockey coach was that I was always surrounded by girls. I got the ladies. I would get piggyback rides to anywhere I wanted and they all wanted to be around me. Funny – I was more interested in girls when I was four. It wasn’t until the end of fifth grade, when I was about to enter middle school that I realized my mom would be teaching me. More specifically, teaching all my peers and me about sex. Yes, I am the son of a Sex Ed teacher. I walked into sixth grade Sex Ed terrified of what might happen in there. I took my seat in the back row of the science room and tried to hide in the group. Mom did not call on me once. After class I approached her to tell her I was still breathing. “Erich, did you honestly think I would call you out? What kind of mom do you think I am?” Basically my mom told me that I’m a student at school and a son at home. I knew seeing her in the hall wouldn’t be the awkward experience I thought it would be. Having her yell at me in gym class felt like having her yell at me to turn of the light in the basement. I guess having a mom for a teacher is not as bad as everyone thinks. Of course it has its downsides. Having a mom here means everything in your life at school is well within her radar. And if you ever had a class or advisory with Ms. Finch, you know that woman can smell a bad grade from Kansas. For example, take the following encounter: “Erich did you turn in that essay?” “…Uh ….yeah mom! Handed it in on time this morning!” “Really because I’m about to have lunch with Ms. Kloehn…” “I haven’t even started yet, please show mercy.” That would be my biggest problem with it. My mom is everywhere and with everyone. It is really embarrassing to my social life when my mom finds out stuff about my peers before I do. My experience as a “fac brat” at Latin has been an interesting one. But I’m sure that the other fac brats in the school have there own interesting stories to tell. So take a chance and talk to your local fac brat today.]]>