EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Michael Ferchau, Class Of 1970

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — The team of teachers and coaches at Evergreen Park Community High School were instrumental in providing Michael Ferchau, EPCHS Class of 1970, the inspiration to seek a career in the same field.

It was actually Ferchau’s father who exemplified the role of teacher and coach at EPCHS perhaps as much as anyone in the school’s 70-year history.

Don Ferchau, a longtime Mustang industrial arts teacher and football coach, was “Father, Teacher and Coach,” his oldest son said.

“I had some of the best teachers anyone could hope for and they left a lasting impression,” Michael Ferchau said. “My dad was one of them in industrial arts. We still have some items in our home that are still standing after 50 some years after being built in the EP woodshop. He was my first, and best, teacher and coach.”

And one of many great leaders at EPCHS during the late 1960’s era when Michael Ferchau attended as a student. Some 55 years after graduation, he still remembers all their names and the lasting impressions they’ve made.

“I remember most, the teachers and coaches,” Ferchau said. “As a science teacher my goal for my students was to get them to solve problems. Looking back, most of the teachers and coaches I had at EP were what formulated my style as a teacher and coach. Sadly, most of these instructors have passed, but the ones I remember were the ones who related to their students and encouraged them to think, and not just follow the norm: Biology with Mr. Tatina…Brit Lit with Ms. Volkmar…Mr. Finkle’s American Government class…Mr. Halpern’s American History class…Frau Kemp’s German lessons…Mr. Zacate’s Earth Science classes…Dad and Coach Yost for Soph football, and a host of others that could take volumes to give credit to.”

Ferchau was one of the EPCHS’ most involved students during that era, active in sports for three years as a member of the football, wrestling and track teams, and a member of the school’s Key Club for three years as well.

“I wasn’t the biggest guy on the football team, so I saw limited playing time, but the competition was what I remembered most of all,” he said. “We weren’t the best football team during my four years, but I always thought we were competitive…that rocky, dry practice field we had before the new fields were installed was part of the reason, but my dad, and the other coaches- Luce, Guzinski, Yost, Moore, and Stelzer, always pushed us to be our best.”

The intensity in the wrestling room with now-EPCHS Hall-of-Famer Coach John George was “unforgettable,” Ferchau said.

“I absolutely loved the atmosphere when everyone was working to get better, and that resulted in the Mustangs winning the Regional Wrestling Championship- I think it was called District back then- my junior year,” he said. “And, if memory serves, one of our guys- Mike Bodendorfer, placed 5th in state.”

One specific memory that showcases Ferchau’s respect for teachers came in Ms. Volkmar’s British Lit class.

“At the end of the year, she somehow asked me how I liked the class and being a bit of a showoff- at times- I told her I would be happy to tell her all I learned in British Lit,” he remembers. “She said that should take no more than 15 minutes. I said I would need an hour. Well, the next day when class began, she called me on the challenge. If she had not stopped me at the 15 minute mark, I would have taken all hour summing up the knowledge she had passed on to me.”

A good amount of Ferchau’s other favorite high school memories involve teachers.

“Being Mr. Zacate’s student lab assistant for earth science senior year and going on field trips to study the moraines, helping students with mineral testing, or taking weather data in earth science classes. Playing Risk in Mr. Finkle’s government classes to show how world politics can work. Heated debates during the 1968 election in junior history classes with Mr. Halpern” are a few.

“I think it’s obvious to all that to be a great teacher, you need to put others before yourself,” Ferchau said.

That’s exactly what he did himself over a teaching and coaching career that lasted more than four decades.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts in biology education from Missouri-Tarkio College in 1977, Ferchau landed his first teaching position in Wheeling, Missouri, at a school district so small that he was their only science teacher.

There, he “taught all science classes, from 8th grade life science to senior electives, which varied depending on what the seniors wanted,” he said. “I also coached junior high basketball and track, both boys and girls…it was a small school.”

In 1979, he moved on to Cuba High School in Cuba, Illinois, where he also taught science and coached football and track. His return to the Chicagoland area came in 1982, when Marist High School became his teaching and coaching home for the next 19 years.

“While teaching at Marist, I earned a Master’s Degree in environmental biology and for my Master’s project, designed a computer based lab book while earning my degree, which was used by my Master’s Professor for 4 years after I had graduated,” Ferchau said. “I was happy to see it actually helped others.”

During his Marist years, Ferchau was an assistant coach on a 1983 wrestling team that has since been inducted into the school’s Hall-of-Fame and was awarded a Most Inspirational Teacher award from Western Illinois University in 1991. He also started the school's Advanced Placement biology course and regularly taught the honors and advanced biology sections until he moved back to public school teaching in 2001.

His teaching career went on for 16 more years, eight at Thornton Fractional North, where he taught biology and physical science, and eight at Thornton Fractional South, where he taught strictly biology.

“Finally, after 40 years of teaching and coaching, I retired… not because I lost the love, but dad needed some care due to medical issues and it was just more convenient to get him to his appointments without the distraction of a job,” Ferchau said.

On the possibility of returning to the classroom, Ferchau said he “wouldn’t say no” because he has already been pulled out of retirement once to coach freshman football at St. Laurence High School in nearby Burbank.

“That was a great experience knowing that I ‘still had it,’ but I am very happy hitting the gym in the morning, doing home repairs, caring for an elderly dog, making sure my wife gets off to work, and other domestic activities.”

Advice for Current EPCHS Students:

I have kept up vicariously with my alma mater through Facebook, other media, friends who have grandchildren attending EP, watching football games on YouTube, etc., and I have not seen any change in the quality education offered by Mustang Nation.

The facilities upgrade, the commitment of the instructors and coaches offer you students the best of all possible roads to success. Use them, rely on them, consult with them, relate to them, never forget them, and I know it’s a different time with all the security issues, but go back to see them. I really loved it when former students came back to say hello. I’m still in touch with a great number of former students and athletes and treasure each and every one of them.

My teachers, at Evergreen- and other schools- are a big reason why I became a teacher. More often than not, I think teachers know what today’s youth is going through and they can be an incredible source of information and support for them.