Dr. Gilbert Schmiedel, Davenport Campus Professor of Anatomy, teaching
Neuroanatomy II. |
In the years since I began teaching
anatomy classes at Palmer College
in August 1963, I believe I’ve gotten
more from the student-teacher relationship
than I’ve given. Just being
around students keeps you young.
One of the things that has given me
much joy as a faculty member is
being active with student groups.
It has been my pleasure to serve as
adviser to several classes and clubs
over the years, including the Veteran’s,
Shooter’s and Student World Chiropractic
Alliance clubs, and since 1967
both the Student Council and Delta
Sigma Chi fraternity.
Many people wonder how the tradition
of me wearing a special hat as the
emcee of the Homecoming Talent
Show got started. I believe it all began
in the late 1970s with a particular
class that was good at practical jokes.
At that time there was a large lectern
in the front of the classroom with a
storage cabinet underneath. I came to
class one morning, plugged in my
microphone and began lecturing as
usual. All of a sudden the cabinet
doors burst open and students leaped
out. They presented me with a quacking
Donald Duck hat. I put it on,
made it “quack” and proceeded to
continue the lecture while wearing it.
Word spread, and then a class presented
me with a Mickey Mouse hat.
During the Homecoming Talent Show
that year, I emceed and alternated
wearing the two hats. The audience
got a kick out of it, and alumni started
sending me hats, too. So it became a
tradition for me to wear a different hat
at the talent show each year. Over the
years, hats have been presented by different
alumni or produced by students,
and more recently the Student Council
has been responsible for the special
hats. I’ve kept them all and have a collection
of about 30 hats at home.
Currently, I teach Neuroanatomy II in
the third trimester. It’s undeniably a
tough class, because it encompasses
all of the anatomies. The ability to
have fun even when teaching and
learning a difficult subject is important
and, toward that end, we try to
inject some levity and practical experience
to the presentation. It has,
however, been my constant endeavor
to provide the student with an even
greater appreciation of the nervous
system and the human body in general
than I received as a Palmer student.
If I’ve learned anything over the years
of teaching chiropractic students as
well as taking care of patients in my
clinic, it’s that you never want to lose
sight of the big picture. To me, the
big picture is this (and I feel I’ve lived
this philosophy): The intelligence that
made the body has the capacity, within
certain limits, to maintain and heal
the body. It never needs potions or
drugs (although I’ve been known to
partake of a little antifreeze occasionally),
as long as it has an uninhibited
expression of the nervous system.
Through these many years at Palmer,
my wife, Arlene, has been involved
with the wives’ club of the fraternity
and as the adviser to the auxiliary of
the Student ICA. Many of the students
have regarded her as their “mom”
away from home. One of the most
gratifying things for Arlene and me is
to see former students out in the field,
either catching up with them at
Homecoming or having an opportunity
to visit them when we are traveling.
My final words of wisdom refer to a
B.J. Palmer epigram: “Never take
yourself too damn seriously.”