Chinook High School's Science Wing Dedicated in Memory of Gail Swant

Thank you all for coming today to help us honor Gail Swant. Gail walked through these doors into the science wing here at CHS for over 40 years. To many freshman science students in their minds, she came every day to terrorize them. Nothing could be further from the truth. She came in every day to give each student the best opportunity to learn everything that she could provide. Gail could seem to be quite stern or humorless, but she wanted to have a safe environment for learning and with almost daily labs often involving hazardous chemicals she was strict. It didn't matter whether your parents were teachers, administrators, public officials; Gail's classroom and lab rules applied equally.

One of the greatest things I remember about her is her desire to help ALL students learn. My first year here I was hesitant to enroll my students in her class. But I found Gail would go the extra mile to adapt curriculum so everyone could find success if they were willing to put in the effort. Extra credit was available to all and it encouraged further learning and reinforcement of the classroom and lab assignments. Gail had an uncanny ability to see what was happening behind her as many students swore that she had to have eyes in the back of her head. She was always updating her curriculum, hand plotting of graphs soon had her teaching students how to use graphing calculators, computers TRS- 80s then IBM dos, Windows. Filmstrips then videos, then internet sources. She kept learning and passing on this knowledge to kids. She was proud of her students and what they accomplished after leaving her. But she didn't like things like this. One of her students after finding his success endowed an award to her, the Gail Swant Science award. If Gail knew the order of presentations in the awards assembly, she would step out just prior to that announcement of the award and return just after. I want to share one student's memory of Gail. "Nominally my science teacher, Ms. Swant is likely the source of my successes. I take responsibility for my missteps but can trace all good development back to her guidance and example during high school years.

Those were good times. I remember Pat Dolan and I discovering her hearing acuity matched that of her famous eyesight; no one else was supposed to overhear our hilarious bus driver skit.... She laughed unrestrainedly at that one.

Perhaps the most amazing thing I observed was a mixture of her talent, quick mind and caring heart when Gail volunteered to help record music for a Drill Team exhibition. I was brought along to the piano in the auditorium as a page turner and mic holder. She said I might learn something. I was mesmerized by her ability to sight read, emphasize a beat and change tempo several times. None of the music chosen started as a march much less one rooted in jazz or dance or swing. Given enough time, I think we might have learned nothing was impossible as the tunes morphed. These two examples out of many, many memories pretty much sum up my mentor, Gail Swant." Christine E. Brummer