Educator of the Year: Master Chief Call
He’s the man that blows the whistle when it comes to doing P.T. (Physical Training) every Friday.
He is also one of the six NSI’s (Naval Science Instructors) at the Delaware Military Academy and he just happens to be the DMA JV Softball Coach. I believe, even though I have not been at DMA for a long time, that Master Chief Call should get some accreditation for what he does with us cadets, every day. What’s different about Master Chief is that he has a daughter in the school, so he can understand our schedules and how things can conflict with each other. There are so many qualities that this man possesses that just make him an all-around good guy. Most people, when they think of a military school, they think of very big dudes screaming in the recruits faces. What they don’t see is what is happening inside the classrooms of a military school because, well, they act a different way.
Although I have not had the chance to have Master Chief as a teacher yet, I am looking forward to it in the coming future. I believe he is a senior teacher and he teaches in the NASCAR room at SH-8. In my opinion, that classroom is the coolest classroom by far; there are three levels of seats and you can somewhat recline in the seats, but if you recline too far then you break the seat. I normally see him outside his classroom talking to my NSI Gunnery Sergeant Lemke, who is a very loud and big man. Compared to Gunny, Master Chief seems like a little pip squeak; Master Chief is so soft-spoken and short, when standing next to Gunny, he looks like a bunny next to a rhino. When it comes to doing P.
T., Master Chief is the one that keeps us all under control. He is also very organized in the way he sets up P.T. Dealing with one freshmen platoon (basically like a class), two sophomore platoons, a junior platoon and a senior platoon is very hard work.
We do physical exercises, like hamstring stretches and cherry pickers, every Friday and then we will play some sort of game afterwards. The only games we have been playing recently are dodgeball and handball, but one of the juniors told me that once it gets warmer out, they will start letting us go outside to do more fun stuff out there. Maybe Master Chief will let us bring our softball gear outside and maybe we can play a game. Master Chief seems very strict, but I think that he is a nice guy who isn’t serious all the time; he likes to joke around and break the ice with new people he meets. Master Chief is also our JV softball coach. When we heard that we were going to have a JV team but have no coach, all the girls on JV were devastated.
That’s when Master Chief Call stepped in and said that he was up to the challenge. Master Chief is our one and only head coach so he has a lot to deal with, but our athletic director, Mr. Dorda, and the Varsity Head Coach, Mr. Roman Allin help him out. Even though some of the girls have never played before or don’t have that much experience with softball, he will teach everyone the basics so that we can all better our playing skills.
When I listen to him talk about softball, you might believe that he has been coaching it for the past 5 years; he is that passionate about the sport. He wants us to succeed, and I think that is a good attitude of an educator. Without any motivation, there is really no point in what you are doing. Master Chief is amazing at what he does. He is so unbelievably talented at softball, and I don’t know what I would be doing right now if he had not said yes to take the position of JV Softball Head Coach.
He has such a laid back sense of style that you would never believe that he was a part of the military. He tells everyone before practice, “There is no need to show off at practice; when you really need to show off is in the game to show everyone how well you can play. While at practice have fun, don’t strain yourself because if you do, you won’t be able to play well during a game.” Restating what I said earlier, I didn’t think he got a lot of recognition for what he does, so hopefully by winning this contest he can get more appreciation for what he has done to better the school. He is very helpful to the girls who don’t know how to play that well, and he encourages everyone to do their best; I think that is what makes someone Educator of the Year.
