360º Of Talent

Mr. Van den Bogert, a popular physics teacher at Christian Brothers High School, has a secret: he is an entertainer, and a darn good one

Mr. Kevin Van den Bogert: You all know him as a scientist, a physicist, an inventor, and maybe even a hyper-intelligent cyborg wizard. However, many of you are unaware of his most prestigious title: performer.

Making his debut performance in 2007 at Open Mic Night in Christian Brothers’ old theater, commonly referred to as L1, Mr. Bogert blew minds with his talent. He drew many perfect circles to arguably one of the greatest compilation albums in American history, Jock Jams, and people were beyond impressed.

Among the observers was Mr. Dave Anderson ’07, a CB alum and current instructor at Christian Brothers High School, who was, at the time, a senior and student of Mr. Bogert’s at CB and one of the hosts of Open Mic.

It wasn’t until Mr. Anderson discovered the genius teacher’s hidden talent one day in physics class that Mr. Bogert decided to make his prowess known.

“He told us one day about how he could draw a perfect circle,” says Mr. Anderson. “And of course we asked him to do it, and sure enough it was perfect.”

One of Mr. Anderson’s jobs as the host of Open Mic was to seek out talent around campus.

Talent is what he found.

“The way he hyped himself up before he did it was almost like an athlete about to go on the field or like a performer about to perform,” the past Open Mic host recalls.

It’s been many years since the physics teacher’s ground-breaking performance, so why has he decided to make a comeback? Is he dying for the spotlight? Does he miss the glory and the grandeur of show business? Is he just bored?

“My fan base demands that I release a new performance,” explains the humble entertainer. “I think perfect circles are in demand.”

As he does in many of his endeavors, Mr. Van den Bogert gives a large amount of thought and effort into his performances.

After taking a technical drawing course in high school, the prodigy recognized his ability to accurately draw a perfect circle, and he knew he had to one day share his gift with the world.

“What matters is…you have to believe that you can do it, and once you believe that, then you have to just execute unequivocally,” he says. “With unwavering confidence, you have to just execute a perfect circle.”

And execute he shall. We here at the Talon anxiously anticipate the return of what may be an Open Mic legend.