Masuk Free Press

Going into Masuk High School to teach after a long 4 years as a student can seem nostalgic, but now you’re not the one that is using the lockers; you’re writing lesson plans. For some staff, it seems like teachers currently still there have “seen” former students grow up and now they’re coming back as co-workers? What a change!

For alumni teachers, coming back into the classrooms that they sat in as a student is like a chance to remember the past and inspire the future. Masuk has changed over the last 30 years, including who’s writing the lessons.

Teachers like Marissa Esteves (Class of 2001) recalls coming back to Masuk as a teacher. She was on the swim team for her freshman year, and the cheerleading team sophomore through senior year, acting as senior cheer captain. Now she has come back as the Assistant Cheer Coach for Masuk Varsity and Unified Cheer teams, aside from being a special education teacher. 

“I liked coming back and seeing the teachers that I had. I liked to see the new additions that were made to the school and the things that stayed the same,” Esteves said. “I had Mr. Manelli for History and Mrs. Buturla for American Literature, Mr. Franco for Math, and Mr. Kobza for Psychology.”

Conversely, teachers who are not Masuk alumni enjoy seeing their former students become their co-workers. It can sometimes seem like a true case of deja vu, remembering a time when they were once teaching someone who is now working with them. Like Esteves, the number of former students coming back to Masuk to teach is increasing.

“I remember Mrs. Buturla being someone I could go to if I needed help or to talk. I remember actually understanding math the way Mr. Franco taught it. I remember Mr. Manelli’s comforting words during Columbine and Mr. Kobza’s Psychology class being one of my favorite senior electives at Masuk.”  Esteves said. 

Alumni teachers can also remember the building itself being different.  A major renovation in 2004 added 13 new classrooms in what is now the STEM Academy, a commercial kitchen for culinary studies,  an expanded cafeteria, and an auditorium that increased in size and technology. It also got rid of the “pit” in the middle of the library. 

So today, Masuk teachers who walked these halls as students can feel a sense of nostalgia, seeing the building “so different” from what it was before, and a sense of pride, inspiring Masuk’s future for years to come.  Current students, years from now, may some day trade their lockers for lesson plans. 

Do you think it might be you?