Editors’ Note: This is the third in a series of features highlighting various objects of affection found in Niles West.
He’s tall, dark, and handsome. He may be missing an eye and look a little disheveled, but that is besides the point. You may have seen him in the historic painted German classroom. Surrounded by the black, red and gold of room 2300, he sits quietly in his rocking chair, observing.
When I first saw him, I’ll admit it: I couldn’t recognize what animal he was. Stuffing is falling out of his seams and his limbs are a lumpy. Wiring and newspaper are exposed but he still has a story. Sort of.
The Wolf in room 2300 is named Wolfgang. Let’s call him Wolfie. According to German teacher Sara Shuster, Wolfie is eight years old. “We made him my first year as a teacher here for a Homecoming float for German club.”
The Homecoming parade was a big deal for German club for years, and senior Joy Sherman learned about the intensity of the German program her very first day.
“German was my first period class freshman year, and I remember entering room 2300 at 8:10 on the first day of school and not knowing what to expect. My desk sat facing the wolf in his chair and I remember being intimidated by Frau Natalie Bartl’s energy and then there was this slouching animal in a chair staring at me. I wondered what I was getting myself into. But I remember that the homecoming parade was a big deal for the German Club freshman year, and they used the wolf in the German float,” Sherman said.
In his early days, Wolfie was a strapping young lad with sharp teeth, broad muscles, and piercing eyes. But years of wear and tear of countless Homecoming floats, appearances in the German Harlem Shake video, and being poked by freshmen boys have taken a toll on him.
He has since retired to his rocking chair. But he still symbolizes a lot. Sherman said, “Like the wolf, the German program is kind of random; it’s always been there, but not everybody notices it at first. But once it catches your eye you can’t stop looking at it. They’re both fantastic, but they’re not obnoxious. ”
Wolfie could use some grooming, Shuster admits, saying, “He could use a makeover, right? My daughters are afraid of him.”
Apparently, he not only terrifies young children, but also has the reputation as a practical joker, like when a student scared an unsuspecting Shuster.
“I went to German class as normal and suddenly he jumped from behind the wolf. What a shock! I screamed and the children laughed. I still do not know who this boy was. I think he was a Spanish student.”
German teacher Josef Neumayer had a similar experience.
“I haven’t had a student hiding behind the wolf – once I had a student who sat underneath the wolf (Wolfgang was sitting on my student’s lap. He sat very still and tried to hide. I saw him there of course – all the students in that corner were quiet, for once, and grinning, which was a dead give-a-way that something suspicious was going on. So I played along and waited to see how long the student would actually sit under the wolf. He lasted the entire period, and it was beautiful! It was the first time all year that he did not cause any major disruptions. I should recommend it again!”
Neumayer says that Wolfie helps out in class, often as an actor for TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) stories.
By using vocabulary and the combined imaginations of the students, these stories help students apply German to real-world applicable situations. Well, I wouldn’t say real world because the stories are always crazy and unrealistic, but Wolfie has always had a starring role.
Since his glory days, Wolfie the Old Man, sits in room 2300, probably collecting social security and waiting for the day we take him to the spa.
