Professor Hildegard
← president charles turck | story list | religious moments →
Human Geography
By Kathleen Osborne Vellenga
Never before had a teacher, certainly not a professor, asked me to stand in class unless I was in trouble. But Dr. Hildegard B. Johnson said, "Miss Osborne, would you please stand."It was not a question. What had I done wrong? This was the first geography class I liked. It was not pointless attempts to memorize a list of river's names which anyone could read on a map instead. I knew the names of rivers I'd canoed: The Sioux, the North Platte and the Niobrara. I'd met the Mississippi River, just down Summit Ave. But Dr. Johnson's class was not only about names on maps, it was human geography.
Dr. Johnson made both the people and the rivers interesting. I did not want to disappoint her, and I was a bit intimidated by this professor with her hair pulled severely into a bun, her back straight, her face so composed it was unreadable. I imagined her composure concealed a dramatic personal history, knowing only that she'd come here from Germany. She told me to stand, I stood.
"Please congratulate Miss Osborne, class. She received the highest mark on this week's test." My embarrassment was mixed with relief. That test had to be a fluke. I would never be asked to stand again.