Class of 1970 turns forty

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"What's the most important thing you'll learn in this class?" asked Fr. Melchior during his first biology lesson with the First Formers in the fall of 1962.

A few hands went up, but none answered the question correctly.

"You will learn to think like a scientist," he declared.

"That statement about scientific values and problem-solving had a big impact on me," said Johnson, who would go on to Rice University to study electrical engineering and become involved in computer design.

"We were part of something special," insisted Bush, an emergency room doctor, "and we knew it even in First Form.

"Men like Fr. Damian (Latin), Fr. Bede Lackner (music, history, and geography), and Fr. Melchior (biology) were driven to make sure that we — the pioneer class — would be given the absolute best education that they could provide."

The curriculum for the First Form that year included five periods of math, English, and Latin each week, plus three per week of biology, history, and geography. Music, art, and P.E. filled out the curriculum.

It was a heavily Hungarian-accented program — from the drilling in Latin grammar to the fencing duels in P.E.

"The teachers had high expectations for us right from the start," Bush recalled. "Even in the beginning, they wanted Cistercian to be the best prep school in Texas. Classes were demanding. Grading was rigid. Discipline was enforced.

"Each teacher had their own individual way of maintaining order in the classroom."