The staff at Quartz Hill High School is known for going above and beyond for their students, preparing them for an independent life outside of high school. QHHS has been around since 1964 and has seen many employees come and go, each one leaving a special impression on both the students and the school.  AP European History teacher Mr. Meester is certainly one for the record books as well.

Mr. Meester greatly contributes to the QHHS campus and has done so for thirteen years. Meester’s career began as a wrestling coach, but he has moved on to teaching AP European and Honors World History, along with advising Key Club and being the master on the grill before every football game at the teachers’ tailgate.

As a child and throughout high school, Mr. Meester was a champion wrestler, influencing him to start coaching youth wrestling in college.  He attended the University of Montana. Meester said, “I was in a fraternity in college and our philanthropy was with big brothers and big sisters, so I had a little brother in college, which was a really fun experience.”

On campus, Mr. Meester says he is known as the “cool, but challenging teacher” by giving his students rigorous notes and carefully graded assignments. Although his classes are very demanding, students still appear to be quite fond of Meester’s teaching techniques and witty sense of humor. Alexander Brjestovsky, one of Mr. Meester’s AP European History students, explained, “He’s one of those fun teachers that makes you work really hard, but it’s clear that he truly cares about what and how his students do. In the end, he really just wants us all to succeed.”

Another one of Meester’s students, Sarah Passantino, said, “Mr. Meester is a great teacher. He teaches us about history and how to be prepared. The stuff we learn in class is super interesting, like how a cow could represent an oppressed nation. He also gives reading pages that make everyone want to cry but are very interesting topics. Meester likes to trick us with his pop quizzes, where if you didn’t write the notes but get every question right, you can only get a 50% as the highest grade. Overall, the workload is a lot, but Meester makes it interesting and worth the time.”

The Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli said, “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” Mr. Meester, however, is both feared and loved by his students, knowing in the end that his demanding assignments and strict grading will lead his students to a successful life.