- May 7Boys Volleyball defeats Mountain View High School 3-0
- May 6Cupertino Library celebrates Free Comic Book Day
- April 30The baller to beat
- April 29The First Congregational Church of Palo Alto brings 'Eras of Esther' to the stage
- April 29College bound
- April 29Supreme Court’s overturning of affirmative action may have substantial long term effects on admissions
- April 29Cupertino’s 40th annual Cherry Blossom Festival
- April 27Class of 2025 hosts AP Study Session
- April 26College by the numbers
- April 26Volume 54, Issue 6, April 25, 2024
Walking into government teacher Benjamin Recktenwald's room, people are immediately greeted by various historical and political posters, student projects, MVHS SNL merch and other witty decorations.
Each decoration carries a unique story, but the deeper incentive for putting them up is for a sense of familiarity, according to Recktenwald.
"Decorating the room makes me feel more at home because this is where I am all day long,” Recktenwald said. "Honestly, a lot of these decorations are here more for me than the students."
Recktenwald recounts when the school painted the beige classroom walls gray. He describes how the bare, cement-gray walls made a walk into the classroom similar to a prison visit. His posters and other decorations that had accumulated over the years give his room a splash of color.
As a government teacher, Recktenwald has various political posters decorating his room. In the past, after an election, he’s offered students the chance to go collect the various posters featuring the political campaigns of those running in the election from people’s homes for extra credit.
Over time, these posters have become somewhat integrated into his teaching.
“Every once in a while, during class, we'll have ballot propositions and I’ll point to some of the ballot proposition posters and mention what they’re for, but for the most part, they're just in the background,” Recktenwald said. “But, for example, today, I was actually talking about Bernie Sanders, so I mentioned the Bernie poster.”
Right above Recktenwald’s desk in his classroom, there are various t-shirts and posters that decorate the space. Notably, there is a student-made poster from his first year of teaching, back when he taught economics.
During those years, students had a project where they had to invent something and then display how they would market it. One of the groups of students came up with two dolls that were modeled after one of the students named Yoshiki. The dolls were Yoshiki himself, and his female alter ego Yoshika.
Recktenwald was drawn as Yoshiki and Yoshika’s arch-nemesis, a two-headed monster at the bottom of the poster with one head named “Ben” and the other “Ren.” He feels that the poster is a creative one that holds special memories for him even today.
In 2010, Recktenwald was driving home and, while in San Jose, saw a home with various wood sculptures in front of it.
“Most of them were bears,” Recktenwald said, “but then there was an alien and I had passed it three or four times. And I'm just talking and asking how much it costs. They said 40 bucks, and I was like, ‘Done.’ That's a bargain.”
Once he brought the alien home, Recktenwald noticed a bug crawling out its body and decided to spray it down with bug spray. He’s grateful for the decision, as the alien was surrounded by a circle of nearly 1000 bugs the next morning.
The alien, ever since, has had a home in the corner of Recktenwald’s room and is currently adorned with a sombrero, tiara and various beaded necklaces. The sombrero is used by Recktenwald to keep the sun out while he’s outside, and the tiara was a gift from a former student who was on the Homecoming court. Meanwhile, the necklaces are mainly things he has accumulated from school rallies.
The alien and its various accessories have been in Recktenwald’s classroom for quite a while, and while it may be a bit strange, he believes that’s the reason he likes it.
“It's just weird,” Recktenwald said. “I guess I'm weird. And I like weird.”