 John Martin is an English teacher at Wethersfield High School. Despite being surrounded by cranky teenagers all day, he finds a way to make each day enjoyable. In high school Martin wasn’t the “ideal student”, but his teachers saw more in him. They pushed him to do his best and to help him succeed. He has taken that experience with him in his teaching career and applied that to his own teaching philosophy.
Now, after working at WHS for five years, he has made a reputation for himself as the teacher who really cares. Students know whether they need help in school or just help in general, Martin is always there to talk to. During any of Martin’s free periods you are almost always guaranteed to find at least one student sitting with him to talk. By talking with his students, he starts to make connections with them that he couldn’t by just being in the classroom. Building that relationship with his students leaves a long lasting impact on them, just like Martin’s teachers left on him. This bond he and his students make help him to be an even better teacher. To him the literature he teaches isn’t always static. He believes that each story can have a different meaning based on the reader. By getting to know his students he gets to discover new interpretations of the text based on how his students see it. Martin makes the texts more interesting by being able to make the connection between the story and the students lives. Martin’s teachers have shaped him into the teacher he is today: one that strives to help his students and goes above and beyond to help them learn, He takes his personal experiences in life and puts them towards his own teaching. He knows the impact his teachers left on him and strives to do the same for his own students. He enjoys what he does and “naturally wants to do well for students”. Martin’s outgoing personality makes him a one of a kind teacher and a favorite among his students.
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by Faith Mitusina 11/30/17
If you ask anyone in Wethersfield High School “Who is Mauro?” I could guarantee a smile would instantly beam across their face and give you a list of all the amazing things about Mauro. Before I ever enrolled in the ALS classroom, I knew Mauro because he says “Hi” to absolutely everyone and always greets you with a gentle handshake. After I joined the class, I realized Mauro is without a doubt one of Wethersfield High’s greatest assets. Regardless of who you are or what you are going through, Mauro does not judge and is always ready to have a good time. Mauro is the life of the room and is always up to something just to get a laugh out of you. And that alone is why I believe he is such an important person in our little community. He spreads happiness to everyone. How does Mauro help to shape WHS? In order to really understand Mauro’s impact, I spoke to some of the people that know him best and work with him on a daily basis. I asked each person the same question and their answers were absolutely heartwarming. “How do you think Mauro helps to shape WHS?” “I think Mauro has shaped Wethersfield High [because] well, everyone knows Mauro. Everyone loves Mauro. Mauro loves everyone, he talks to everyone. I feel like he made people more aware of the ALS community and everyone in that classroom. He helped people get more involved. Mauro is just awesome!” -Lianna Montalvo (Senior) “Mauro has helped to shape Wethersfield High School because [of] his personality. He is a very friendly face and you can’t help but to look at him and smile. Whenever he looks at you he smiles and some people don’t have a friendly face to see in the hallways, so by seeing Mauro it makes me happy, it makes everyone happy.” -Triniti White (Senior) “Well, he’s just so friendly and so sweet, and I think that his vibe is unconditional love. He doesn’t judge anybody. He doesn’t care what you look like, what you’re going through, he does not care he just loves all people in general, unconditionally. And that right there is a gift. I wish they could sell that because you don’t find that often but Mauro has it.” -Jonna Roberge (Paraprofessional) “ He has made people more aware that different is okay. When he first came to Wethersfield High, he didn’t speak at all. Now he’s speaking in full sentences and is conversational and he didn’t do that before. He feels very comfortable here and everyone makes him feel loved and welcomed.” -Debbie Ball (Paraprofessional) Mauro endlessly spreads happiness to everyone. His willingness to accept all people for who they are should be an inspiration to all of us. In just the short time that I’ve known Mauro, he has taught me how important it is to be kind. The effortlessness of how loving he is, is such a beautiful thing and that alone is why I believe Mauro will leave such a tremendous legacy when he graduates from Wethersfield High School. Not a normal high school year for Wethersfield senior Chelsea Pinchera, 17. Pinchera took a fashion design class at Wethersfield High school and fell in love with the art. She came to the conclusion that she wanted to pursue it as a career and apply to colleges offering a fashion degree. Fashion Institute of Technology located in New York City is her top school and is currently waiting to hear on her application status.
As senior year goes on she has to not only apply for colleges but in her case also submit a portfolio for her art schools . “It's very stressful. I have to make and put together my portfolio but also apply for colleges and keep my grades up.” The fashion enthusiast would love to one day be in New York City she says “hopefully this hard work now will pay off one day.” For her portfolio she has a variety of different drawings and just completed a very professional oversized coat and a pair of white high waisted shorts with floral patches on them. Pictures of Pinchera’s work will follow. Enjoying hobbies such as soccer, and anything music related, Ryan McCarthy is currently a senior attending Wethersfield High School.
Growing up in the town of Berlin, CT for the first twelve years of his life, Ryan describes his childhood as being near perfect. He enjoyed playing the bass and other activities such as baseball and soccer. Both sports he played throughout his youth. Living in Berlin, Ryan made many friends and acquaintances. Many of which he continues to keep in touch with to this day. Making friends was easy; who would want to leave? During the start of his sixth grade year, Ryan’s family found themselves in Windsor, CT. Moving everything to live in a different town proved difficult. Going from many close friends in his town of twelve years to none was fairly unaccommodating. Ryan found himself a group of friends he stayed close with for the year he resided in Windsor. Moving to another town proved difficult. Especially when done a second time. Ending his sixth grade year in Windsor, his family moved a last time to Wethersfield, CT. He spent the summer keeping in touch with his friends from Berlin, which was very hard due to distance. Besides knowing a couple of neighbors, he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the middle school. His first day he became acquainted with a lot of people and made friends all throughout middle school. He now attends Wethersfield High School. Currently, Ryan has finished his senior year soccer season after playing for the team 4 years. His passion for the sport still shows as he’s planning to actively participate in the sport as an adult. After high school, Ryan is planning on attending a technical school to study and apprentice as an electrician. He currently takes a construction management class and enjoys the work. He describes it as being fun and fulfilling for him. He’s currently looking into joining the union of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In today’s world, climate change and pollution are serious problems. They will not solve themselves so it is up to students with the initiative and drive to make a change. Gabi Interian, a senior at Wethersfield High School, is one of those students. Gabi is treasurer of the Environmental Club, and along with President Isabella Schroeder, they are making a difference in our community. She has always been interested in the environment, trying to find different ways she could help. “I always tried to do little things around the house like; recycle, turning off the water when people brushed their teeth, and reducing garbage.” While she never had participated in a large program for the environment, junior year she decided that the Environmental Club was a perfect fit. She had heard the goals of the club and was excited to be able to contribute. The club makes efforts every year to make a difference in the community, but this year, they are tackling a school rumor that has been spread around the school for years. Many people believe that the school janitors do not actually recycle, they just throw everything in the trash bins. The club has looked into this and confirmed that the janitors do in fact recycle what is in the recycle bins. Now, the club is ready to tackle the challenge of getting people in the habit of recycling. “Our plan is to remind people of what in fact can be recycled, and see if we are able to increase our recycling habits. By recycling we can decrease the waste we produced which will eventually get dumped in landfills, and instead reuse materials like plastic.” Another project they are working on is collecting donations for a local environmental organization through selling T-shirts for $10. If you are intrested in purchasing a T-shirt, you can visit Mrs. Norris in room 410. After that, there is nothing that is set in stone, but there are plans for a clean up in Wintergreen woods, a plant sale, and a walk in the woods to educate elementary kids about nature. The Environmental Club is making a difference in the community. They are educating students and staff on the importance of recycling and are working to change the way people think. “I believe that our work is helping people become aware of what they can do to help the environment. A large change starts with the smallest of efforts.” By Lexi Munger Amanda Gilbert is a senior at Wethersfield High School who, like many students plays an active role in her community. To make sure that she is always involved, Amanda Gilbert took on the role of becoming President of the National Honor Society (NHS). After high school,
Gilbert plans on majoring in biochemistry and pursuing a career in research. Gilbert started off by saying, “I was excited when I was invited to be in NHS, and I knew from the beginning that I would put in as much work as I could to help. That’s when I figured I would just run for president, because then I would really be contributing to the organization.” Pressure comes with the job Gilbert holds, which she says she handles well and keeps all of her responsibilities organized, but is also not afraid to ask for help from her fellow officers or students in NHS. She also added, “I am responsible for holding meetings every two weeks and running events. I enjoy organizing events, because the events are the way NHS can make an impact on the community.” She said sometimes holding meetings is tough because it is a large group and can be hard to get everyone's attention Gilbert included that her ultimate goal is to make sure that NHS is giving back to the community and making the school a better place, whether she is running an event to raise money or tutoring another student. The most important event she has done so far is a collection drive for veterans. Amanda Gilbert ended her interview by saying that she hopes that the all of the members realize the significance of being in NHS and they use their leadership and all of their abilities to make the school and community a better place. By Tori Tucker Jackie Reategui, 17, student at Wethersfield High school is one who is making the Wethersfield community a brighter and more accepting place for us to be in.
She didn’t always attend Wethersfield High school. Reategui attended Northwest Catholic for her freshman year of high school before transferring to Wethersfield. “It wasn’t a difficult switch for me…. There were many more opportunities here at Wethersfield that excited me to be here.” One major Reategui will be pursuing in college, is Public Communications. In her high school career, she has shown her interest in building a relationship between organizations and the public. In the summer of 2017, Reategui organized a walk to bring awareness and raise money to help support suicide. This is a larger organization called “Out Of The Darkness”. Reategui had got in contact with people who are a part of this organization to make it happen at our school to include those she has been close with through her education. Nothing has happened directly in Reategui’s life that caused her to want to organize a suicide awareness walk for the school. She says “For me, it was mostly because of teenagers suffering through depression and sometimes it could get so bad that they want to take their own lives. I wanted to do something that brings awareness to that in the high school because it happens more than we think. Anyone suffering should know that they aren’t alone”, says Reategui when asked why she wanted to take the actions that she did. A passion of Reategui’s is just simply helping others. She has explored this passion through high school but it is not a plan for her to stop. She will continue to better our community and wherever she ends up going any way that she can. By Grant Anderson At Wethersfield High School there is fabulous English teacher who is loved by all the kids in school. He currently teaches English Honors and ECE Composition while directing all plays and coaching boys tennis. This man is Mr. Roets aka "Roets".
Roets began his coaching career here at Wethersfield High School in the 1998 season. This is the beginning of long and decorated career which includes a couple state championships. The reason that Roets wanted to become a tennis coach was because he has a genuine love for tennis. With coaching he saw the chance to keep himself involved in the sport. “I love the sport, and I love sharing the sport.” Most coaches teach the skills and tactics of the game and just want wins, but this is where Roets gets set apart from the pack. “Wins and loses matter, but the relationships are what really matter to me.” By taking this approach, Roets builds strong relationships which helps him know how to deal with each of the players. Everyone knows the right way to deal with their friends in certain situations because they know them. Roets knows what to do with his players because he knows them at a friendship level. After all these years Roets has made some truly special relationships. He plays doubles year round with two of his past students. He will also go and hit with some of his past players and even referred to the players’ kids as his grandchildren. Relationships are what Roets cares about, but do not think that means he can't teach the sport itself. The tennis season at a public school gets going very quick. There is only about three weeks of practice before the matches start. In Roets’ opinion “There is so little time for skills.” Even in this short amount of time, Roets manages to get his players ready for matches and develops them throughout the season Every fantastic coach hasn't mastered all aspects of coaching. “Teaching the mental game is hard, it requires a buy in from the player.” In tennis, the mental aspect is the toughest to master and mostly has to do with the player. Roets is remembered as a great coach to all his players because truly they think of him more as a friend than a teacher. Roets is the coach that you can ask for advice on your serve or you could ask him for advice on college or problems with your friends and that is what makes him a special coach. Check out his tennis site here https://whsroets.weebly.com/ WHS teacher Mr. Rioux has a different teaching style than most teachers, students in Mr. Rioux’s class are responsible for their own actions.
Mr. Rioux is a choir teacher with a different perspective on discipline. He says that he “likes to have students think more like adults” by not punishing them, but instead having them “think about what they did.” This teaching style gives students the opportunity to analyze their behavior and to work to improve it. Mr. Rioux has been teaching at WHS for 16 years and 30 years in education overall. He started in Glastonbury at the high school and elementary school. He was inspired to start teaching music by his elementary school teacher, Mrs. Lee Dellert. He says that he “loved going to class.” The effect that this teaching style can have on classes and the future of students would have students think more independently on how to act. “Kids rock” is what Mr. Rioux says about teaching. He tries to use humor instead of discipline because he says they won't learn as much from punishing. He tries to solve the problem for both him and the student while using respect. Mr. Rioux says that “If I am doing the discipline, then it is useless”. By Kenny Harrison Richard Scopetto is an icon at Wethersfield High School. Every time you hear his infamous “How you doin’?” line, you know it's Sco walking down the hall. He is loved by all the students and staff. Sco is one of the five gym teachers at WHS. He has the longest tenure of a whopping total of 45 years and coaching for over 20 years.
Sco says what makes him different than other teachers here is “I’m older.” He tries to be the same person everyday or as he would say “I'm never too cold. I'm never too hot. I’m lukewarm.” Sco always tells himself that he won’t try and have a good day but that he will have a good day everyday. He loves kids but says that some don’t listen and expect to be told more than once or twice to do things. Sco isn't fond of electronics, he says they can be useful but teenagers misuse them. One of Scos biggest struggles is time management. He has to get all his work done during the day so he can have time after school to coach. Where as other teachers can assign homework, he can't because it's all done at school. He always is coaching whether it is during the soccer season or during girls tennis in the spring. He loves coaching and teaching kids. He says they are the “best people to work with.” |
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