By Benjamin Fu

Gargoyle staff reporter


Posted Monday, Feb. 19, 2007, The OG, features

WITH ANOTHER EDITION of Agora Days set to begin Tuesday, it's easy for students to lose sight of all the work that has to be done behind the scenes to make this tradition possible. For many years the faculty sponsor of Agora Days was English teacher Rosemary Laughlin. After she retired in 2003, French teacher John Garvey took over. During his tenure, the Agora registration process has gone from manual to online. Tom Wiltzius, a 2006 Uni grad, created the online system two years ago. Junior Micah Berman has succeeded Wiltzius as Agora Webmaster. But through it all, Garvey has been the person pulling everything together. Benjamin Fu sat down last week with Garvey, who has taught at Uni since 1996, to discuss Agora 2007 and other topics, including the Uni chess team, which the busy teacher sponsors as well. Garvey also talked about what he did the night of the big snowstorm.

Agora Days faculty sponsor John Garvey.

(photo by Benjamin Fu) (click to enlarge)

So what is your role specifically as the faculty sponsor of Agora Days?

I coordinate the classes that are proposed. I accept or reject them on the basis of order received and redundancy. Basically, I try to take as many as I can and then organize the scheduling of the classes, although more and more of that is done now through the software that's been developed by Tom Wiltzius and implemented this year by Micah Berman. And then I'm the person people come to when there are problems. Although they've been coming to Micah a lot this year too, so he's been carrying a lot of the load.

Do you see any noticeable differences with this year's schedule and people's choices overall compared to past years?

Not significantly. You see the same types of classes year to year. It's always a pleasure when there's something new. There are several things this year. There are certain political issues that are interesting to people this year that have not necessarily been there before. We always have a few language classes. We have Chinese and we also have American Sign Language, which I think is interesting. There were relatively fewer sports classes proposed this year, so essentially I was able to take, I think, almost all of them. We did separate out sports and games this year for the first time, to give people more options.

Do you expect this year to run similarly as it has been?

I hope so. Given some problems with the software, we're later than I'd like to be, so the scheduling is still going on now less than a week before classes begin. But once the schedules are in, then the dissemination of the information is much easier because it all can be done online. But otherwise I think it's pretty much as it has been since I've been doing it. I've been doing it with the software. Previous to me, Rosemary Laughlin did it all on paper, and I can't imagine how she maintained her sanity doing that.

Do you plan on working on Agora Days for years to come?

I hope to. And especially as the software, the database program, gets a little bit more predictable it should go even smoother. […] I think we have the system set up so that it can be self-propagated.

I think that's enough about Agora Days. The chess team has been pretty successful recently. This year they finished eighth in the IHSA tournament and last year they were fourth. So as the assistant coach and faculty sponsor of the chess team here at Uni, how much of an interest and experience do you have in chess?

I played chess when I was young. It was what we always played when we went on camping trips. I never was terribly good at it. I know how it goes and I can watch an endgame and see what's going on. But I'm certainly not in the league with our players and not by any means with the real coach, Chris Merli, who's the one who teaches them and corrects them and goes over their games with them. So my job is basically to organize things and drive the bus [laughs]. Make sure that everybody's where they're supposed to be. But it's lovely to watch. The state chess tournament is a fantastic event. And I should point out we did come in eighth for the IHSA award, but the ICCA, which is the Illinois Chess Coaches Association, also gives awards based on school size. And in our category of school size, we were first. Just not as recognized an award. But in the old days, that was what IHSA did as well. […] For a number of years Uni was first in the state, but they were first in Class A. So that's what we're doing now. [Note: Uni won six Class A state chess championships from 1978 to 1994. The IHSA eliminated the two-class system (big school/small school) in 1995.]

I remember you having an interest in archery.

I haven't done much archery this year; it's still in the back of my car. I could go over if I wanted to, but it's been a busy year.

Is it more of a hobby?

Yes. My wife has periodically suggested that I hunt, but I haven't the nerves to do that.

And you also organize and go on the biannual summer French trips. Do you enjoy traveling in general?

Yep. I do. We travel as a family when we can, which is not very often. But we both, Madame Lopez [French teacher Lynda Lopez] and I, we make sure that during our trips we go to at least one part of France, one town or one region, that we haven't been to before, so that we're expanding … so little by little I'm getting to know the whole country better. My family and I went to Italy last spring break and […] I didn't expect to like it quite as much as I do. I love Italy. Ready to start studying my Italian again.

Also concerning French here at Uni, I often hear about French class doing cooking.

Yes, sometimes.

Do you also enjoy cooking?

Yes. Before I came to Uni, and even the first year I was here, I was a professional cook. So it's something I've always done. I always cook at home for my family most nights. And it's just something I do comfortably and happily and I cook at lot [laughs]. I cook when I'm bored. I cook when I'm frustrated.

Like a stress reliever?

Mm-hmm. Because it's the one thing I'm absolutely sure of what I'm doing [laughs].

That's about it. Is there anything else that you would like us to know about yourself?

I want to tell everybody that to celebrate the oncoming snow Monday night, I set up a tent in my backyard and slept outside so I could wake up with the snow all over me, and it was great. That was beautiful. Just you know, to show that I actually am as weird as people think I am.

RELATED

— Agora overview: 2007 official site

— Agora class descriptions: 2007 master schedule