“For most of the summer, there were rumors floating around  that Mr. Monden was most difficult AP Biology teachers out there. According to previous survivors, he was prone to “roasting” people. Naturally, based on this information, on the first day of school, there was a small crowd of kids too terrified to open the door that led into his classroom.

However, as most people quickly realized, the rumors were greatly exaggerated. Mr. Monden is not some fire-breathing, 100-foot tall god of roasting. He is a science teacher (who frequently speaks in the third person) with an affinity for science-related puns and the Avengers.

In any case, it was mentioned that AP Biology is a tough and fast class. So, the expectation was that the classroom would inevitably be filled with cries of despair, miserable and sleep-deprived high schoolers, mind-bogglingly fast-paced lectures, and cloudy lab goggles filled with tears over mercilessly murdered grade point averages.

Instead, the reality, surprisingly, was not so bleak.

In actuality, students in Mr. Monden’s class often find themselves laughing hysterically, whether it be at the aptly named “Tardy Book of Shame”, the even more aptly named “No Name Folder of Doom”, or the amusing wisecracking answer options cleverly placed to break up the solemnity of tests. They are often fascinated by the black snake named Sam that slithers around in the center of the room eating mice. The lectures, while occasionally mind-boggling and often quite  fast-paced, are extremely in-depth and leave everyone with a greater understanding of the subject matter, as well as knowledge of a few humorous metaphors pertaining to the topic.

On top of that, while many students originally thought of it as stressful to come to class after school to finish experiments, grade lab books, or attend booster sessions, Mr. Monden somehow manages to make each of those events entertaining and worth coming to, staying at AHS for many hours after school ends to help them comprehend certain concepts or finish schoolwork. On occasion (particularly after especially brutal test scores are inputted into Powerschool), he encourages students to never give up and to find more effective alternate methods for studying.

Mr. Monden has created an AP Biology family of sorts, with classmates who work together and help each other rather than ferociously competing over every little thing. He is a truly helpful teacher with a knack for making difficult classes a lot more fun.”  —Anonymous, Pow Wow