Viara McVicar was my teacher for both Grades 7 and 8. She taught us every subject except the two periods a week when we had a French teacher. Grade 7 and 8 were an explosive time for me in terms of learning. All the subjects were interesting. My vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds. The ancient world became alive as we went through a textbook called Builders of the Old World. The science course was intensely interesting. The literature was amazing. I can still quote much of the poetry from memory. Even the subject called Health was fascinating. Today that seems a throw away course tacked on to either Phys Ed or Science. But with Mrs. McVicar it was a serious course. We learned a lot about our anatomy, and the function of various organs. Years ago when a former student of mine was taking first year medicine he was amazed at how much I knew. He was astonished that I even knew about the islets of langerhans. That was all in Grade 7 and 8 Health. Mrs. McVicar's approach to mathematics influenced the way I taught my own Grade 8 students in future years. The only subjects in which I did not excel were handwriting and art. Despite these I finished Grade 8 with a 90% average which was almost unheard of in those days. If it had not been for handwriting and art the average would have been 95%. I owe much to Mrs. McVicar .