Martin J Medhurst

I spent most of the 1970s in school: BA from Wheaton College (1974); M.A. from Northern Illinois U. (1975); Ph.D. from Penn State (1980). All of my degrees are in the field of Speech Communication, where I specialize in political rhetoric. I've taught at the University of California, Davis (1979-1988), Texas A&M (1988-2003), and Baylor University (2003-present). When I left Alton in August 1970, I had no real sense of what I wanted to do with my life. I was interested in several different areas--law, ministry, teaching--but not really committed to any one area. I ended up spending most of my undergraduate years in sports broadcasting at my college radio station, then decided that I would get an M.A. and teach speech and media at the high school level. While pursuing the M.A. in media, I discovered rhetorical studies and changed direction to emphasize rhetorical theory and criticism. At that point, I made the biggest decision of all--to pursue a Ph.D. and a career as a college professor--something that had never occurred to me before 1974. And the rest, as they say, is history--41 years of history. I love what I do and will miss it when I retire in June 2020. My wife also teaches at Baylor and will also be retiring in June.

Almost all my memories of high school revolve around sports. My life was very simple: football in the fall, indoor track in the winter, outdoor track in the spring. In the summer we lifted weights, worked out, played basketball at the YMCA, and generally tried to stay in shape. I have fond memories of all my teammates, coaches, trips, etc. In retrospect, it seems kind of one-sided. But I wouldn't change any of it. Sports taught me many valuable lessons about teamwork, loyalty, goal-setting, hard work, dealing with adversity, and much more. Now if I could just get back into shape....

Godfrey Elementary K-5
Mark Twain 6
North Junior High 7-9
AHS 10-12