Last week, in the name of spring cleaning, we parsed through the Eagle’s Eye archives and stumbled upon a vintage senior spotlight from 1985. What surprised us even further was who it was about: Mr. Ogren!  You may know Chad “Chogren” Ogren as the fun-loving, charismatic science teacher at Enloe. Apart from his love of environmental science, there is much more to him than meets the eye. Read on for an exclusive article on one of Enloe’s O.G. Eagles.

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Chad Ogren is an ace when it comes to the science bowl, but that doesn’t stop him from rocking it out on the weekends. His involvement in the rock and roll scene and dedication to the IB program set him apart from the crowd.

Chad has always excelled in science, and his favorite classes include APES, Marine Ecology, and Outdoor Science. He’s especially interested in acid mine drainage and damage to the environment. Because of his passion for the subject, he’s on Enloe’s Science Bowl and Envirothon teams. He loves being an Envirothoner because of the team traditions that date back to the 70s’. On the way to competitions, the team blasts Eye of the Tiger and double backflips out of the van to let the other teams know that Enloe Envirothon is here, and they mean business. 

You’ll often see him in the Science Bowl club room rocking his iconic earring, a mullet, and an iron-maiden band t-shirt. There’s no denying that he’s a huge nerd, but nerds like heavy metal too. In fact, Ogren is the quintessential 80’s child of rock and roll. Whenever his schedule allows for it, he loves going to concerts. So far he’s been to Lollapalooza, Ozzy Osborne, and lots of AC DC concerts. He even hosts his own listening parties in his garage on the weekends. His totally tubular 30-hour bangers last from sunrise to sunset. He’s known for doing triple backflips off his roof into the pool. 

His job at National Record Mart selling cassette tapes helps him pay for concert tickets and fuels his ongoing addiction to buying ACDC records. He has amassed a collection of over 200 CDs and yet he’s fiending for more. His mixtapes, Night of the Guitar I, II, III, and IV, perfectly blend 70’s rock and exquisite blues. If you come and hang out in his white van, he’ll play the entire thing for you. 

Chad is an eagle through and through. His favorite part about going to Enloe is the opportunities available, such as the IB program. “I love working on my extended essay and learning about theory of knowledge,” Chad Says. “I live and breathe that stuff.” As an IB student, Chad puts a large emphasis on time management. He loves the new school computer labs that let him type on state-of-the-art technology. Computers are a thing of the future and Chad is here for them. Between rigorous history and environmental science courses, IB, and Envirothon, Chad is a busy guy. He is always thinking ahead about how he’s going to spend his time. “Every second counts,” Chad says. 

Chad may have a multitude of talents and interests, but at the end of the day, he’s a simple guy. Chad sees himself as a teacher, perhaps returning to Enloe as “Mr. Ogren”. “I’m gonna make a difference in the world,” Chad says. There’s no telling how far this eagle scholar will go, but as one of 85’s best, he’s on the right path. 

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In an attempt to fully highlight our beloved teacher, we decided to dig deeper and learn more about his life since high school. After hours of research and multiple attempts to get in contact with Ogren’s former classmates, we were unable to find any information of any substance. His old friends have no idea where he went off to after high school. One unnamed individual even reported hesitatingly, “After we graduated, there were a lot of rumors, I remember one rumor circulating about him being lost in the Bermuda Triangle.” Another friend noted, “My younger siblings told me they still saw him walking the halls even after we were supposed to have graduated.”

Upon our discovery, we immediately rushed to Mr. Ogren’s room to confront him on these allegations. When the subject was brought up, his eyes widened significantly before he took a deep breath and assured us that the rumors were all a joke: “I most certainly did get my teaching degree! At… College University…” he then went on to turn away from us awkwardly. He murmured under his breath, “How could they know I just stayed here?” We then recalled the deserted page that was his LinkedIn and inquired about the supposed jobs he had taken up in the 90s: “I find it hard to believe that you were a ‘professional paint drying watcher…’” He promptly told us to stop bothering him and kicked us out of his classroom. That was the first time we’d left his classroom on a Friday without a punny joke and a cheerful goodbye.

We are now more sure than ever that Ogren never left the halls of Enloe High. Chad kept coming back to school, year after year, till eventually the administration gave up on keeping him out and let him inhabit room 1712, where he resides until this day.