Mr. Todd Meulman has been at Saint Francis for 41 years, of which he has been teaching for 29. Currently, he teaches AP Statistics and Statistical Reasoning in Sports. Throughout his teaching career, he has taught a smorgasbord of classes, including PE, Algebra 1, 1A, 1B, Algebra 2, Precalculus (regular and honors), and trigonometry. He is the head coach for freshman football, the program director for boys’ wrestling, and the performing arts lead as a host and facilitator.
The Lancer: When you were a student in high school and college, what was your experience like?
Mr. Todd Meulman: Wow, that was a long time ago. I liked going to high school. I was in a more rural area of Michigan, so Catholic high schools in my area were actually not very strong. I went to a good public high school, and I enjoyed it very much. I was not a good student. I was in honors classes because my friends were, but I was kind of laissez-faire about it, so I was a B/B- student. I loved doing sports. I played football, even though I didn’t like it that much, but I wrestled and played baseball. I was not involved in the arts in the way that I am now. I went to college for eleven years, off and on. At the start, I was going to go to Western Michigan and came out here for my senior trip. While I was out here, I got a call—not an email or text since they didn’t have that stuff back then—from my mom that she got a letter that they had dropped the wrestling program at Western Michigan. And I was kind of sad but at the same time still planning on going back there. But, I went to West Valley to meet the coach of the wrestling program because my dad said he thought there was a team. It cost nothing to go to school there at that time, so I went and stayed in California. After my first couple years, I got recruited by Chico State. But in the summer between when I left San Jose and went up to Chico, I met a gal, and we ended up getting married. Even though I started at Chico dating back-and-forth long distance, I said “Yeah no, screw this, we’re going to get married.” Then, I went to work, so I didn’t finish college but I was taking classes at night. I started coaching here, but to get a teaching job I had to get a degree. At the time I was doing construction, and that paid a lot more money than teaching did, so I could buy a house and get the family started. For eleven years, I kept going to school at night and finally I graduated. The year after I graduated, Mrs. Tennant hired me here as a teacher.
TL: What are some of your favorite childhood memories?
TM: I haven’t thought about that in a long time. I have a really good family, I have two brothers and we’re pretty close in age. We lived in these low income housing projects, and they used to come in with big snow plows and push all the snow to the end of the street. And you would think, [gestures around three feet high with his hands], but no, I’m talking twenty foot high mounds of snow. We would build toboggan or sled runs, dig holes, and do really dangerous stuff, but we had so much fun going out and playing in the snow. Someone was asking me about living in the snow and I went, “I would never want to do that now.” I loved playing baseball when I was younger and high school was when I really got into wrestling, even more in college. I always liked math; I had a great eighth grade math teacher who was also my wrestling coach. When I made some poor decisions, he was there to catch me and pick me up.
TL: What led you to become a teacher? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do, or more of a gradual realization?
TM: There was one day in seventh or eighth grade when I was not making good decisions and had stopped going to wrestling practice. I had just started the year before and I was a student in my wrestling coach’s math class. There used to be little rooms in the back of the class where you took students to beat the hell out of them, or whatever they did back then. Not really! I’m teasing, they’re the coat rooms, and the teacher would say, “You go stand in the coat room.” My teacher stopped class in the middle and took me back into the coat room. I thought that he was going to yell at me, but he was very positive, in a very stern way, and told me that I didn’t have an option. I needed to stick with wrestling and be with it. Him taking that time during that time of my life was so impressive, so I thought that man, that would be something kind of cool. So, seventh or eighth grade was when I knew for sure that I wanted to become a teacher; my teacher was the big influence.
TL: How did you get involved in the arts at Saint Francis?
TM: I fell in love with the arts here. Somebody asked me if I would like to build sets because I was in construction and had my own business while I was coaching, not teaching. I went, “Oh, that sounds cool.” And it was, and I saw how hard all the performers worked and how much they put into it. I’m not good at it, but I really respect what they do, so I just fell in love with the arts. And the band and choir have caught my attention now, too.
TL: If you don’t mind us asking, why did you leave your position as Director of Student Activities?
TM: Because I’m old. At the time, I thought I owed it to Mrs. Tennant, not necessarily as a favor, when she and Mr. Raines asked me to do it. Mrs. Tennant gave me so many opportunities—I mean just hiring me when there was no reason to hire me. I was not an academic superstar in any way, but still giving me the opportunity. When Mrs. Tennant asked me and felt that it was something I could do, she and Mr. Raines both gave me the confidence to do it. I’m already older and down the road a little bit, so I figured it was probably about a ten year gig when I got into it. I thought that if I lasted ten years, it would be pretty good. My truest passion, though, is being in the classroom. I just love it. The stress of being the Director of Student Activities—there’s easier parts, harder parts, and lots going on—it’s a great challenge, but it’s fun. I think I accomplished some things that were cool, but I think it needs a younger person that’s more creative and less traditional. At this time, at the way our school and community is moving and growing, it required somebody a little less traditional. It was taking a toll on me, so mainly my age. And I really, really, really wanted to keep coaching so I couldn’t do all that stuff anymore.
TL: Why did you initially choose to teach at Saint Francis?
TM: My ex-wife now, the gal I told you about, her brothers were still in school here when we started dating. I was wrestling at West Valley and doing some coaching at Prospect, but they were here, so I came over here. I started working out and Adams, who was the coach here at the time, said, “Would you be interested?” And I said, “Sure, yeah, I’d love to,” and that’s when I started. I fell in love with it: I love the kids, the play. You know, I’m now coaching kids whose fathers I also coached. Luke Spinale, a senior this year, I coached his dad Eric in one of those first years after I started. That’s what kept me here. It was a very easy decision to raise my children here.
TL: What do you like to do outside of the classroom?
TM: Coach–that really takes a lot of my time. Once the season’s over, I am in a hiking group with Mr. Volta, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Battle, Mr. Kemp, and Mr. Ikezi. I’m really looking forward to that. I have March 10 marked on my calendars, my first Monday hike with the group. I love that, and whenever possible, I go to Pismo. I hopefully have a future retirement home there, and I’m pretty excited about spending time there. We hike and go to the beach. I’m not a goer, I’m more of a relaxer.
TL: What is the most rewarding and most taxing part of your job?
TM: Teaching and being in the classroom is both. I mean, I love it, but there’s always those frustrations. Every day is different, every student responds differently. You have around 130 students, so you get a variety of inputs, and you’re trying to make the output different enough to get to 130 students. I feel comfortable there, I enjoy it, and I really do care. I think that’s my favorite place to be. I didn’t come here for that—I came here to coach—but the teaching is really rewarding. The traveling and the competitions are getting a little old, but I also love coaching and going to practice. Especially now in my role, I take care of the younger kids and just sit back and get them to a certain level where I can hand them off.
TL: What is your teaching philosophy, and how do you exemplify it in the classroom?
TM: I would say that my philosophy is to impart the gift of work ethic. If you want to get to a certain point, if you want to be at a certain place, it takes an investment of your time and your effort to get there. I’m not dumb, but I wasn’t a scholar, right? I just got by until I went to grad school. For my students, it’s not so much even grades. To be honest, maybe this shouldn’t be public knowledge, but you’re going to learn a few things whether I’m teaching you or not because you’re smart. I try to grind, right? And I stop and slam on the brakes occasionally because I care too much, maybe a little bit of hand-holding. But I hope to get my students to the point where they understand it. If you want something, you’ve got to work for it. And you can use your time wisely or not, but you’re going off to college, so you can’t just let things go because you might not have those same safety nets there. I want to be there for them, but at the same time I like to give them a little boot toward the end so they’re ready for college. I want to be confident that my students will be fine in college, not because they know the content, but because they know how to prepare.
TL: What advice do you have for students who are unsure about what they want to do in the future?
TM: Take your time; there’s no rush. I would not recommend the 11-year plan for college, but especially if your parents are going to participate, go and explore options. What happens in college is that you find that things become more focused. If you pick something you enjoy, then it’s not academic dread anymore. Suddenly, it’s “I want to learn as much as I can, because this is really cool.” Your whole direction and approach to education changes there. So just explore until you find that thing which interests you the most and don’t make it a grind. It doesn’t matter: you get your degree and that opens doors for you. There are cases where the degree matters, but for the most part, it should be in something that you enjoy doing because that’s probably the direction you head down the road. I did not get into teaching to make a bunch of money; I got into it to love my quality of life. And it shows that I do enjoy it because my two daughters are both teachers and they grew up here and followed in my footsteps. Find your passion. Find what’s important.
TL: Now we have some lightning-round questions. If you had to teach a class you haven’t taught before, what would it be?
TM: Creative writing. I actually taught it once in summer school, so I don’t know if that counts. My degree is in literature; I haven’t read in a long time, but I would if I had time.
TL: What is your favorite wrestling match that you’ve ever seen?
TM: I coached in the state championship, so I had a Saint Francis state champ. That was the pinnacle, but there was also a Bellarmine and Saint Francis duel a few years back. We hadn’t beaten them in their first 12 years or so, and we finally beat them. As an individual match, Jason almost winning the state championship, but as a team, the first time we beat Bell in a duel and won the league title.
TL: Do you have any teacher best friends? If so, who?
TM: Mr. Raines and I are very close. Mr. Motil is my go-to—for whatever reason, he’s a great counselor. I spend a lot of time with to Mr. Volta, Mr. Ikezi, and Mr. Battle. I am really close to them and consider them more than just friends. Mr. Herhold and I are close because of our time in activities. Like I said, I hike with Mr. Cannon, and Mr. Kemp and I have done things like that for a long time together. Ms. Anderson and I have been close for a long time as well.
TL: What is your favorite city in Michigan and why?
TM: I didn’t explore Michigan, though I am going to a place this summer that I’ve never been to, Torch Lake, which is supposed to be beautiful. I love Kalamazoo. That’s where I’m from. It’s a small town and I’m a small town person. Even though I live here, I avoid the city like the plague.
TL: And finally, what is your favorite food and drink?
TM: Steak, I like steak. I like burritos. I like steak. Steak. For drink, Mountain Dew for the newspaper.
Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
