Jordan Stubblefield
COURTESY OF commons.wikimedia.org VIA CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
Originally published May 6, 2022
WARNING: The contents of The Canine Comical are purely fictional and intended to be humorous, satirical. Readers are advised not to confuse them with real incidents.
Many students are familiar with the teachers of MBMS. However, a recent search into YouTube uncovered shocking details about the pasts of these teachers. Below are a few of these unusual backgrounds.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY J. STUBBLEFIELD
Before Mr. Vatne got into middle school counseling, he did online therapy for all ages. He did therapy through YouTube and became very well known to most users and lots of private clinics called him and offered him a job.
"I loved being a therapist on YouTube because I've always liked having my own schedule and helping people in need plus going viral was awesome," Vatne said.
In 2001, Vatne received the Nobel Peace Prize and attended a nationwide psychologist's event to give a speech and celebrate his success.
"I'm still shocked that I was awarded for just sitting around in my mittens all day just listening to people complain," Vatne said.
Even after winning all those prizes, Vatne wanted a change. Something that he could actually move around more and meet more people face to face.
"I've always enjoyed doing therapy but it was getting really difficult listening to adults rant forever about their diet," Vatne said. "I decided it would be best for me to work with teens in a school and do counseling."
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY J. STUBBLEFIELD
Many people know Ms. Cameron as an eighth-grade science teacher and an outdoorsy person, but not too many people know that she used to wrangle bighorn sheep.
"I've always kept it a secret because I didn't want my students to see that side of me," said Cameron.
It all started in 1999 when Cameron came across a bighorn sheep in Canada. The sheep started charging at her and then she put out her hand and punched it in the face. The sheep was caught off guard and retreated away really quickly.
"I was so scared at first because once I saw the horns I thought I was done," Cameron said.
A couple of nearby hikers recorded the video and it, later on, went viral on YouTube with 4.9m views. Luckily Cameron saw the video and realized she was actually pretty good at it.
"I wish I could meet those hikers again," Cameron said. "They helped me realize my true talent and without them, I would have never become a bighorn sheep wrangler."
Cameron was wrangling bighorn sheep up until 2021 when she decided that she needed a break. She later moved on to teaching middle school science and now she loves telling her students stories about her wrangling days.
"I just hope that no one is scared of me just because I punched a sheep," Cameron said.
Back in 2017 after many students noticed Mrs. Carnahan leaving early plenty of times and being too much of a WSU fan, they reported her to the school board. Just recently they released that Carnahan was working part-time as the WSU mascot.
"I was hoping that no one would notice," said Carnahan. "I loved doing backflips and putting on a show for the crowd."
Carnahan left school early 42 times and didn't go at all 17 times just in the 2016 school year. When they reviewed her classroom, they realized everything in the class was related to WSU.
"I never thought it would go this far so I had to take down all the posters," Carnahan said.
Carnahan had to quit at WSU in 2019 and had to return the suit. The school board ruled it treason to go against the bulldog but did not punish her.
"I never thought in my whole life that I would give up the true cougar inside of me, but I have to remember I will always be a bulldog too," Carnahan said.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY J. STUBBLEFIELD
Just recently, a student at MBMS found Mr. Mentink's old YouTube account. The student looked through his account and found out that Mr. Mentink was once a ghost hunter and had a cameraman who filmed the videos for him.
"As a kid, I was always curious about ghosts and if they were real so, I decided to go look for them," Mentink said.
Mentink started his ghost hunting in 2008 and he saw plenty of strange things throughout his career. He saw a ghost in his first two months of hunting and he handled it like a pro.
"I grabbed my hoover vacuum cleaner and the ghost went right on in," Mentink said.
In 2010, Mentink quit his ghost hunting career and stopped making videos for his channel after an incident. Mentink was grabbing a diet coke out of the vending when a ghost sneaked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"I ran away so quickly and I hid in a corner in a nearby school with just me and my diet coke," Mentink said.
That was Mentink's last day of ghost hunting. Later on in life, Mentink figured out that he was meant to be a teacher because he always loved working with kids and he enjoyed math. In his ghost incident, he ended up in a school too.
"Everything happens for a reason," Mentink said.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY J. STUBBLEFIELD