This weekend I would like to stray from the typical subject matter of blog posts and use this platform to address an issue much more pressing in my life (and many of ours) right now than anything I could ever possibly learn in a classroom: Dr. Ramos's leave.
For those of you who have been denied the pleasure of having Dr. Ramos as an advisor, serving on Honor Council with him, or taking Latin, (1) I'm sorry your high school experience has sucked, and (2) I think you can still appreciate that he is a man so great, humorous, genuine, and caring in nature that no amount of superlatives can do him justice. I am one of the few lucky individuals who has hit the "Ramos Trifecta" in high school (i.e. having him as a freshmen advisor, a Latin teacher, and a faculty moderator on Honor Council). This is only just proof of the point I'm sure many of you already know: over my high school years I have forged a genuine friendship with Dr. Charles Ramos. I am far from the only one in this English class, however, that has formed such a relationship with Dr. Ramos. Whether you hang out in his room nearly every single break and lunch despite never having him as a teacher, are nearly moved to tears when he jokes--perhaps too seriously that one time--about retirement, are the recipient of his hilarious nicknames, constantly attempt to compare Aeneas to Jesus in his class, gave him a poop emoji for Christmas, are confident enough or close enough with him to say pretty much anything to his face, or are the only student this year in his Latin V class (I really wish I had taken it with you, Natalia!), many of us love Dr. Ramos and can count on him to make us laugh when our day is not going the best. There is a reason so many of us congregate in Dr. Ramos's room during off hours: his presence is uplifting and we are able to act like ourselves without constant fear of receiving a DR or being kicked out of the room (unless you spill a drink; he does NOT like when you spill drinks).
We all know and love Ramos as the fun loving, drum-pounding, theater-going, South Park-watching, Latin-adoring man who, as I said in my email I composed for him, possesses a "heart that makes even Jesus look like a giant jerk." Even with this week's news in mind, I know I still view him as this exact same man and hope that everybody else still feels the same way. Without Dr. Ramos on campus, St. Martin's will simply not be the same. He is, and has been for 19 years, an integral part of the St. Martins community. I am confident that all this is just one minor setback for one great man. I hope and am 99.99% sure that this will all be cleared up shortly and that Ramos will again be the quirky Latin teacher we all know and adore. In the meantime, however, let's keep Dr. Ramos in our thoughts and do whatever we can to help the man out in this saddest of times.
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3 comments:
First off, love this. Being one of those students that has never been in a class/advisory/or honor council with Dr. Ramos, I can attest to Bennett's statement that we all loved him. Just for the record, by the way, recent alumni are pissed allll the classes. The stm community tea spills FAST (haha). I also hope Dr. Ramos will make his expected comeback. We're all rooting for him. I wanted to put into perspective some contributions he's made to the community. 1st and foremost: IN EVERY CLASS I've ever taken, latin is always brought up in some way or another. Every teacher at some point or another has said "Who are my latin students in here?" to translate some type of meaning of some type of word. Thanks Dr. Ramos.
2: He always has candy on fridays. Who doesn't love a good starburst or Reisin pick-me-up on casual fridays? we can always rely on taking "just one" candy to lift our spirits at the end of a looong week. Thanks Dr. Ramos.
3: He's always offered a space for anyone and everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed whether it be during break or lunch or LSW. Thanks Dr. Ramos.
and 4: He's always put up with my hyper/crazy bullsocks. Thanks Dr. Ramos
I agree with everything y’all have said. So beautiful! I want to thank Dr. Ramos for everything he has taught me the past three years. In almost everything we read, there’s some sort of relation to Latin. Whether it be a phrase, words coming from Latin, or a historical piece coming from that era, Dr Ramos has given me the ability to recognize and point out all of these connections. He is one of my favorite teachers of all time. He not only cares for his students success in the classroom, he also wants to see us succeed in life. He has a been a person we were all able to talk to and tell all our lives events and secrets and rant to without having to worry about him judging us or telling anyone else. He has been someone you could always ask advice from and he’d give his honest opinion. He has been a great teacher and friend not only to me but many of us. I hope he will be at school soon so we can enjoy his humorous jokes and hilarious rhetoric again.
Reading this post is so heart-breaking to me. I'm sure that when us students in the St. Martin's community realized that Dr. Ramos had been absent for a few days, we didn't think much of it. Little did we know what kind of news we would come to hear... When my mom told me the news I froze and was truly shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing...Dr. Ramos has always been one of my favorite teachers. I really enjoyed getting to know him personally in Latin class over the years. He is a funny, loving, and caring teacher. I couldn't ask for a better person to have taught me Latin. Not only that, but going into his room every break and lunch has always been something I did. It's nice going in there because he always made the room lively and socialized with the students, making us laugh and even giving us advice if we ever need it. Sure, Dr. Ramos has yelled at me a few times in the past (especially the times when I spilled something in his room haha) but those times never stopped me from enjoying his company. It's sad knowing that this has happened but as you said in your post I'm sure he will be able to return as well. I'm truly going to miss that man.
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