Ten years ago, math teacher Jesse Allex took a job at Orono High School. Many know him as the “vampire” in room 311, but few underclassmen know him as the teacher with the legendary goatee from years past.
Five minutes after six o’clock a.m., Jesse Allex is walking inside the high school to get ready for the day ahead. “I get here a little after six because if I get here before six, I have to stay outside until my key card works [at six].”
Aside from Allex being the first person in the building, he is usually one of the last to leave. On a regular day Allex stays at the school until 4:00-4:30 p.m. On test days he sometimes stays until 5:30 p.m. and does not leave until every test is graded.
Other days he is answering emails, revising his notes sheets or working ahead. On nights when there are sporting events going on Allex is here until 9:00-9:30 p.m. supporting students at the games.
Because of his diligence his note sheets usually do not need much revision. Allex spends an hour on each note sheet for all of his classes. He uses these note sheets everyday as a guideline for teaching his students. But every once in awhile, minor modifications are made.
When Allex plans ahead he does not mean a day or two ahead. He means weeks, even months ahead.
“I have a general schedule laid out for the rest of the semester for every one of my classes,” Allex said. “I’ve planned ahead that far. I’m not the person to wait until something is due to do it. If you tell me something is due in three weeks, I’ll still get it done as fast as I can.”
Orono was Allex’s first teaching job and was the first school to give him an interview at the time he was applying. After his interview, Allex was half way home (he was living two hours away at the time) when he got the call about the job. His parents actually got the call and passed the message along to him.
At the time, he was only offered a one-year deal with the potential for more after the year and, for that reason, Allex almost rejected the job, but then reconsidered. “I thought one year of experience is better than none.”
In high school, math was Allex’s most liked subject and that helped him decided it was the class he wanted to teach. “I liked math not because it was easy for me,” Allex said, “but because it challenged me more than the other classes. Everyone thinks I’m a nerd [for liking math].”
As a student, Allex only got as far as Algebra II. Now he teaches Honors Algebra II every year. This year he also teaches Calculus and three Honors Functions and Trigonometry classes. “That’s my favorite course. It’s really hard, I like Trig,” Allex said.
Aside from the math department many have seen Allex participate in a majority of the school functions. “Anything they offer I try to do,” Allex said. “I like seeing students outside of school.”
He has participated in two years of the Polar Plunge and almost every teacher competition there is, except for this years Winterfest competition due to a student questions session in preparation for a test.
Faculty versus senior games are another place you can see Allex preform. Typically there is a basketball game and a few years ago there were softball games. “[The teachers] beat the softball team the year they won state [2008],” Allex said. “I struck out against Chelsey Durland; she almost hit me in the face.”
The teacher competition is Allex’s favorite. “I wish they would change some of the events,” Allex said. “The trivia, I assume, is boring to watch.”
Two years ago, a school fundraiser caused Allex to shave his goatee while other teachers dyed their hair.
Since shaving his goatee for the first time, Allex has grown his goatee back four times, but no one has ever seen it because it has been during school breaks. “I’ve grown it back a few times, just to see it but it doesn’t seem right to have it anymore,” Allex said.
In his room, Allex never has and never will open the window shades. Before the school was remodeled the shades were black and let in a very small amount of light.
“I had a cabinet in the front of my room that was big and took up a lot of space. People joked [that] it was my coffin where I slept instead of a closet. Since my shades were always shut too people said my room looked like a cave.”
Since then the joke of Allex being a vampire stuck with students. “Coming in freshmen year I heard people say he was a vampire and had hard classes,” junior Sydney Reiners said.
Since then, Reiners’ image of Allex has changed and he has become one of her favorite teachers. For the past two years, Reiners has chosen Allex for Teacher Appreciation night for the basketball season.
Another thing Allex is well known for around the school is his strict and odd eating habits. “It’s who he is; it’s Jesse,” science teacher Tim Haislet said. “It’s a topic of conversation among teachers. ‘Will Jesse eat this?’ is a game we play.”
Allex has three categories of food: foods he likes but does not eat because they are high in calories or are not healthy, foods he likes and eats and finally foods he does not eat because he does not like them.
Inside the list of food that are high in calories or unhealthy that Allex likes but won’t eat: cookies, cakes, pies, but not pecan pie, chips, candy and any kind of pizza that is not homemade.
Foods that Allex enjoys and does eat include: all fruits and vegetables, tortilla chips, chicken, pork fish, and a few others.
Finally there are the foods that Allex does not eat simply because he does not enjoy them: brussel sprouts, cheese (unless on pizza), and chocolate because of its aftertaste.
This diet was put into play when Allex was 27 years old. Now at 34 years old he has kept this style going.
“We were playing a football game and half way through the game, I was exhausted I have never felt that way before,” Allex said. “I thought to myself, ‘I shouldn’t be this out of shape.’”
Because of that “I started walking more and lifting weights. Now I can’t help but do those things every day.” For five years straight, Allex has weighed the same weight he weighed in high school.
“He’s a disciplined person, he doesn’t eat any food,” sophomore Cammie Parrott said.
Aside from the foods that Allex will and will not eat he is also well known around the school for the foods he does eat for lunch.
Every day at snack break Allex will have a banana. “I have 10 bananas at home right now. I’m always in stock and will never run out.” For lunch he will always have a salad with lettuce, spinach, carrots, radish and cucumbers with western dressing and a turkey sandwich with pickles, which Allex eats in a circular motion.
During lent Allex will have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. He will always start with his salad first and finish with his sandwich. “You have to save the best tasting thing for last.”
Allex rarely goes out to restaurants but the last time he went out was a year ago to Applebee’s where he had pork chops.
He has also never attended the State Fair. “People go there for the food which has no appeal to me,” Allex said.
At the end of every year, Allex’s students have the opportunity to see him do a handstand and then walk on his hands. Allex has never participated in any gymnastics classes but he can do the splits all three ways, he can perform front and back flips and he can walk on his hands.
Allex has three older brothers: Jerry who is 10.5 years older than Allex, David who is 11.5 and Brian who is 12.5 years older than Allex.
He also has two cats Cinnamon and Sugar. They are a mix of Siamese and another unknown breed.
Allex graduated from Redwood Valley High School. After high school Allex took two years off and worked at a Sears warehouse in Chicago. Once they offered him the position of a store manager Allex knew that was not the job that he wanted and decided to go to college.
Allex has never taken the ACT. He started college in Illinois at Joliet Junior College. He then transferred to Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minn.
The teachers do not spend as much time out of school together now as they used to but Haislet and Allex have become friends since Allex began at Orono.
During Allex’s first few years he and Haislet would share supervision of high school soccer games. “In Jesse’s first game that he was supervising, he had to throw a fan out of the stadium,” Haislet said.
Haislet was also able to share a few stories from Allex’s past. “Since he’s began working at Orono [Allex] has wrecked two golf carts,” Haislet said. “I am very proud to be a colleague of his, there is no better teacher with classroom management.”
Many of Allex’s students enjoy having him as a teacher despite his difficult classes. “He’s fun to make fun of and he’s quite sassy,” senior Abby Aasen said. “He pretends to try and trip me in the halls sometimes.”
Allex enjoys his students as well, “I don’t show emotion that often, so I don’t know how much my students know I care about them,” Allex said. “I like them more than they think I do.”