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Valentine Nadolinski
So, who is Valentine Nadolinski? No one you have heard of but he was someone important to me. I hope that you will all have a Valentine Nadolinski in your life. Maybe he (or she) will come into your life someday or maybe that person has already come into your life and you didn’t have a title for them (but now you do).
While I am sure that Mr. Nadolinski has long since passed on I hope that someone will tell his family that this column was written to their father or grandfather or brother. He left a wonderful imopression on a 25 year old guy many years ago in Buffalo, NY.
Mr. Nadolinski (more about that part later, but it is significant) was a professor of mine at Buffalo State College around 1986. The year is not important in my story but his impact on my life is the only aspect I want to impress on you. I am sure that he changed lives years after me and for decades before me.
From his name you can discern two things: he was old when I met him and his family was deeply entrenched into the fabric of Buffalo, NY which had a large Polish population for over 150 years. Many part of Buffalo, NY still have names significant to the thriving Polish community that still maintains its presence today. Nobody names their boys ‘Valentine’ anymore (and probably didn’t name their kids that name when he was a young boy), a name that was probably passed down from a grandfather to him at a time when it was still oddly ethnic and not cool in a world of Davids and Marks, and Stephens.
Mr. Nadoliniski taught me microbiology at the college as an instructor only because the title of “professor” was only given to those who possessed a PhD. When asked why he had not earned a degree beyond a MS in Biology he told us that when he started teaching at Buffalo State College (“Buff State”) it was not necessary to have the doctorate which informed us that he had been teaching microbiology for a very long time at the school. He joked that when he did try to go beyond a MS his professors were his former students and the school offered him no additional income beyond what they were paying him already if he did earn the degree!
The most important part of my story is that I was a student of his. I was just one student in a single class and he probably could not have remembered me if he had been asked about me later on. My insignificance is essential to this blog entry because he did not have a unique bond with me nor did he make any attempt to be remembered by me individually. I had never met him or heard of him before this single class I took from him.
Mr. Nadolinski had to be at least 80 when I met him, teaching this microbiology class probably for the 50th time, the same class with the same subject but different students as he had for many years. Dull, boring, a rote exercise in getting a paycheck?
No! Not with Mr, Nadolinski! Mr, Nadolinski made microbiology the most interesting class you could ever take and he never wasted one minute doing anything other than making you wish you were him teaching this amazing subject! He loved his subject of things too small to see with your eyes and his enthusiasm was infectious! He taught like a 24 year old newly-minted graduate student finally getting his first class in the subject he hoped to devote his life to! He roared into the classroom so eager to teach you that it was clear that there was not enough minutes in the day or images of these bacteria, protozoa, and other microscopic organisms for him to show you how wonderful this subject was! If you didn’t like this subject he didn’t care because he loved it and he wanted you to learn why he loved it!
Look at this amazing lifeform! Look at how it has adapted to its environment! Can you believe this bacteria is unchanged for millions of years? Look at this other bacteria that causes a horrendous disease – itsn’t it amazing how it has built-in immunity to our attempts to eradicate it! There was not one aspect of these lifeforms that he wasn’t amazed with and he taught not to an exam but to share what was special about this subject and this organism.
He connected microbiology to every part of your life and your world! He learned why every student in the class was there and devoted a lecture or part of a lecture to each individual student’s specific interest! Your final project was analyzing a sample of water but not just any water – each student had a sample of water taken from near their own home! Yes, Mr, Nadolinski had driven around the city of Buffalo taking water samples close to each student’s home!
A single class taught to a single student like the thousands of students he had taught before but here I am writng a blog entry about the guy. I only regret that I did not seek him out years ago to tell him what my destiny would be be and his role in making my world happen. It has been 30 years and I cannot forget him and his teaching.
Thank you Mr, Nadolinski and all the Valentine Nadolinskis in the world who leave a lasting impression on their students. You never know where we will end up.
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