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Iconic English teacher John Van Meter was seated in Tagart Memorial Chapel's choir loft--about as far away from the proverbial spotlight as anyone in the faculty-staff audience could be. He was almost free to go. Then Headmaster Charlie Britton concluded the opening meeting August 24 with one last announcement: Van Meter as deserving recipient of the Rollins-Luetkemeyer Endowed Teaching Chair.

The director of some of McDonogh's most memorable dramatic productions received vigorous applause and a standing ovation as he made his way to where Britton stood. Head bowed in characteristic modesty, he accepted the engraved silver bowl from Britton and left with dispatch and appreciation.

Britton described Van Meter as follows:

Let’s be charitable and say that this honoree began his career at McDonogh prior to the arrival of girls among the student body. But it’s not charitable at all to say that this teacher has been among McDonogh’s most popular, masterful, and influential since that arrival.

His laugh serves as a symbol of the impact he has on students and colleagues. He cackles, and those around him follow suit, even if they don’t always know why he’s laughing. He simply inspires with the breadth and immensity of his enthusiasms. In this teacher’s hands, lives are 'dramatically' altered.

In fact, you could go so far as to call this master teacher transformative. Not only has he influenced the courses of too many lives to count, he systematically transformed the McDonogh campus for twenty-five years. If you were around before the Horn Theatre came to be, then you remember when the most mundane of campus sites were repurposed as stages.

Behind Keelty was the place where Henry V exhorted his men to exploits on the fields of Agincourt. The red house on Farm Road was the site of a Midwestern 'picnic.' The chapel was where Thoreau spent the night in jail. The loading dock was where Othello succumbed to the 'green-eyed monster.' And amazingly, the basement of Allan was where Hamlet came to understand that there is 'a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.'

And what dramatic productions they were—they were McDonogh events. Time and time again faculty, parents, alumni, and other guests were heard to say, 'You just forget that you are watching a student production.'

Truly, his plays were his offerings of love to McDonogh, the result of countless hours of obsessive focus and drive. Further, his professionalism and joyful commitment inspired many a professional career--on stage, in front of a camera, and in roles behind scenes.

Now retired from the superhuman extracurricular exertions of those twenty-five years, Mr. Van, or “Von” as students often refer to him, has made room 10 of Keelty the site of his transformative arts. The room, not unlike his attire, is a patchwork quilt of shrines to his colorful enthusiasms. Homages to Keats, Dylan Thomas, and Frost exist side-by-side with tributes to Indy cars, Lionel trains, and cartoon Pez dispensers.

These days, Mr. Van has come to be known as the teacher who succeeds in capturing the imagination of students that other teachers find difficult to reach; he has a special fondness for those he refers to as “Peck’s bad boys.” The twinkle in his eye makes one suspect that there was a little of Peck’s bad boy in Mr. Van once upon a time.

Today we honor him for all of the energy and enthusiasm that he has bestowed upon the McDonogh community over the years and for being the master teacher that he has become.