“When I was young, I wanted to play shortstop for the Cardinals,” said Mr. Meyer in response to being asked about his dream career. Today, he would love to be a writer, but his true dream career is the one he has now: a teacher at Nerinx Hall. Mr. Meyer loves teaching at Nerinx Hall because the student body and faculty inspire him to be better at his job. As his students know, if he is not teaching, he is whitewater rafting. He feels there is nothing as rewarding as nailing a challenging rapid after researching and preparing to go up against the river.

As long as he is whitewater rafting, he does not have to drive, which is a good thing since his biggest pet peeve is “drivers who fail to use their turn signals.” He probably would not say anything to those bad drivers since he tends to be nonconfrontational. If he orders his favorite food, pizza, at a restaurant and the server brings out a cheeseburger, he would likely eat it. Along with being nonconfrontational, he is also shy. “I was the kid who would hide behind Mom’s legs,” he said, “standing in front of a classroom still makes me nervous, which is why I try to avoid the teacher’s desk.” His students can attest to this because he often sits on the radiator in the back of the classroom to teach.

When asked what celebrity he would like to meet, he gave a series of answers. He said, “I’d want to schedule a whole weekend and just go from one thing to the next.  I’d love to bang on some guitars with Marcus Mumford and Colin Meloy.  I’d love to go for a run with Chrissie Wellington.  I’d like to sit on a park bench for a while with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and just talk, and I’d like to show Béyonce some new dance moves I’ve been working on.  I’d like to pick up Tom Brokaw and drive on slow, two lane roads to some random small town and talk to people at the town’s diner.” If he only got to choose one celebrity and one activity, he would hang out with Martin Luther King Jr. and let him pick what they do.

Last but not least, I asked Mr. Meyer what the best book he has ever read was, and he responded with Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer. He owns three copies of this collection of short stories about mountain culture. He also enjoyed reading The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko and Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck.