[ I taught secondary school, Brebeuf College in North York years ago. Recently, a former student sent me an email which I feel should be posted, not for my benefit, but for the teachers who sometimes feel their work is not appreciated. Just look what a student wrote about his school days and teachers from nearly 50 years ago.]
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Hello Mr. Szpin,
So nice to have visited on your website. Wonderful to see the work you are doing post-teaching.
I know you must run into so many former students, and I don’t expect you to remember me.
My name is Antony Caruso. I went to Brebeuf from 1978 to 1983. My older brother, Joe Caruso, went there from 1975 to 1980. My father, Sam Caruso, used to own a barbershop at Newtonbrook Plaza (the plaza has since been torn down), where many of the teachers from Brebeuf would go to get a haircut. He was a good friend to Robert Meagher, Brebeuf’s first principal.
I was lucky to have attended Brebeuf. I was greatly impacted by the teachers there: Père Toppings, Fr. ‘Buzz’ Massie, Fr. Donald Beaudois, Fr. Peter Ambrosie, Holly Doyle, Bob Lato, Jim Hill, Peter Lee, Mike Daoust, Richard Strimas, E.J. Barry, Stan Kosier, and Eugene Whelan, are just a few that come to mind.
And you!
My love of history was fostered by you and Mr. Doyle. After Brebeuf, I went to U of T and did a double major in History and Political Science, specializing in Canadian & Russian history and politics. I got my teaching degree from Ottawa University, and in 1989, I became an elementary school teacher.
I tried to teach as much Canadian History in my class as possible, sneaking it into other subjects like English (novels about Alexander Graham Bell and Terry Fox!), Art (Group of Seven), and taking my grade eights on a four day overnight trip to Ottawa!
You had a positive influence on me. You taught me how to organize my thinking by teaching us how to take and make great notes. You taught with passion, as if you knew you had something important to pass on and it showed. You were proud of your Polish heritage, and though we teased you about it, we admired you for it.
You helped organize the Grade 10 mock parliament in Brebeuf’s gym. That was a lot of fun and informative. I think we defeated the government on a vote of non-confidence! That inspired me to set up a Grade 8 simulation of Confederation, where each student took on the role of one of our Fathers of Confederation and they would debate the same issues that the original Fathers did, to see if they could agree to form a country.
Your classes were always riveting. I remember one activity you had us do for European History. It dealt with the emergence of European nationalities and the creation of the nation-states. We were all in groups and had to present a particular country. We all had to make a traditional dish of that country, and I remember we all looked forward to coming into class that day to have a sample of that particular country’s fare.
I did something similar in my grade eight class. I introduced a Christmas Around the World project in December, and students were placed into groups and they had to teach about a specific country, discuss a Christmas tradition related to that country, lead the class in an art activity related to that tradition, and present a traditional food item from that country. We would set aside regular teaching in the final week before Christmas holidays, and the students looked forward to listening to presentations that week, do an art activity, and sample some food.
One of my more popular units, and inspired by you!
In 2006, I was one of seven teachers to win the Governor-General’s Award for Excellence in the Teaching of History. I always credited that with the great teachers I had, and you were one of them!
I look forward to reading more on your website!
Hope you are well! Take care and thank you!
Antony Caruso
