How has your NASH experience been so far? Has it been very different from teaching at Marshall?

It has been really good! There has been a lot of change so I am getting used to everything. I am still trying to navigate the school, and I am currently very dependent on the arrow signs, and if they were to take them down I would have no idea where I’m going. I think that the stairs are good for exercise, but they are very challenging if I have a lab scheduled for that day and have a bag full of stuff that I need to lug in. I miss the windows! My old room had a whole wall of windows, and the light was always streaming in, so I will definitely miss that. I really miss some of the teachers, but I love seeing some of the kids that I had back in middle school and seeing how much they’ve grown. It’s cool that I was part of your earlier school life and now I get to work with you again. The students here are more mature, and they already have a good idea of what is expected of them.

Have the other teachers been really accommodating? 

Yeah, definitely. Everyone has been so nice. It’s weird because it’s kind of like being the “new kid”.  I am not a new teacher, but I still don’t know how everything works around here, so it’s like being in a new world. But everyone has been so helpful. I still don’t know everybody’s name, but hopefully I will soon.

Are there any objects that you have a special connection to in this room?

I have this giant wooden dinosaur in the back named Harold. He was originally with a colleague of mine, Mrs. Clark. When I started working at Marshall  we became really good friends. But when she retired, she decided to give him to me, and I have had him ever since. I brought him along with me because it’s a piece of her that I can take wherever I go. I also have the poster on my door that I used to see when I was in high school, and I actually searched for it online when I first started teaching. It says “30 years from now, it doesn’t matter what shoes you wore, how your hair looked, or the jeans you bought. What will matter is what you learned and how you used it.” Its message means a lot to me, and I think it’s important for my students to see that and to hear that. Being a former high school student, I can understand that right now that stuff may seem like a big deal, but in real life it really isn’t.

Now I know that you’re very passionate about theater, so do you still perform? Do have any favorite plays that you like to watch or perform?

I currently perform at the Ben Avon Community Theater Players which is a community theater where I live, and I am actually performing a play now with them. I actually have two favorites. I was in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I was Helena and it was one my favorite roles to play. The other was called Anton in Show Business.  It was an all-female cast and was about theater, and I performed it in my senior year of college. What was really cool about it, though, was the fact that my character in the play was a teacher who always loved acting but went into teaching. But then she got a major role in a production, so she took a sabbatical to pursue acting. I always remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be my life!” Although I don’t plan on leaving teaching any time soon, I remember how much I could relate to the character even before starting my teaching career.

What else do you like to do for fun?

I love cooking! I love nothing more than inviting friends to my house, and I just feed them. I love entertaining, and I want my friends to feel comfy at my house, so I always tell them, “Come in sweatpants, and we’re gonna talk or play games and eat good food.” It’s kind of hard during the school year, because things are so hectic, but when I’m free I’ll go over to my grandma’s house –I am Italian, I may not look it, but I am– so we’ll make pasta, biscotti, ravioli,  you know, good stuff. I also really want to travel the world. I like Las Vegas, which a lot of people don’t know about me. The environmentalist in me doesn’t like Las Vegas, because it should not exist the way it is, but it’s a really nice place to visit. I do stay in a green-certified hotel whenever I go, though. I also really love decorating. I love picking things out, finding paintings, and decorating my house. I would redecorate my house every single year if I could.

So why did you choose science instead of theater?

Science and theater have been my two loves since I was little, and I mean really little. I was in a play when I was in pre-school and that got the ball rolling.  As far as science goes, I was always the kid who was mixing toothpaste with a bunch of random stuff to see what would happen, or going to the science center, or going outside to look for neat rocks. My Christmas list was always something along the lines of “a microscope and dance lessons” or “science kit and a ticket to a play” or something like that. So it wasn’t just choosing one passion over the other. It was always both. I think that, in terms of picking one, it just clicked one day and I decided, ” I want to teach kids.” And I think that moment comes to everybody and that you can always find a way to do your passion. You just need to find a way to incorporate into your life.

What would you say is your biggest goal as a teacher?

I’d say my biggest goal is to get the students who don’t like science or think they’re bad at science to love it, or at least appreciate it. And I want the students who are already passionate about science to come in, have a fun time, and continue to grow.  So even if I could convert one person each year to either love it or appreciate it, then I think I would be happy. I would love to start working with some clubs, like the Actor’s Society and the Musical, or starting something new, but I think that will have to come later, once I’m accustomed to the school.