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ember 19, 2011
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Most Likely to Become President
1. Craig Bianchi 2. Kurt Laakso
Biggest Trendsetter
1. Elizabeth Joiner 2. Erik Hodges
IN-DEPTH
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And the votes are in... This issue, the In-Depth team asked your teachers to vote for their fellow staff members for teacher superlatives. Here are the winners! Class Clown
1. Jim Adair 2. Dave Schnell
Most Athletic
1. Brad Rathe 2. Martha Kelly
Best Hair
1. Nicole Warren 2. Michael Andrews
Most Involved
1. Lyn Scolaro 2. Dave Jacobsen
Most Intimidating
1. Margaret Mamsch 2. Brent Pearlman
Everybody’s Best Friend
1. John Camardella 2. Jay Heilman
Camardella, Andrews teach, bond By Zak Buczinsky In-Depth Editor Every time social studies teacher John Camardella, or “Cuba,” as his students call him, has a conversation with his friend, English teacher Michael Andrews, he struggles. Cuba has to angle his head downward slightly, because at a towering 6’4” if Cuba looks straight, 5’6” Andrews just disappears. “We are sort of opposites,” Cuba said. “We are like Yin and Yang.” But it’s true: Andrews plays guitar; Cuba plays nothing. Andrews loves soccer; Cuba’s into basketball. “He likes to throw balls in hoops; I kick balls in nets,” Andrews joked. Underneath what seems to be two
The Sunflowers
Two years ago, when social studies teacher John Camardella, or “Cuba,” as his students call him, arrived at school with an oversized leaf, hanging it up in his class and the social studies office, it became the wonder of students and teachers alike. The leaf was a product of one of Cuba and English teacher Michael Andrews’ group hobbies — gardening. The teachers began to garden when they started a project to make their own mint tea out of an extensive field of mint plants growing in Cuba’s back yard. Cuba and Andrews then decided to expand this project by planting a plethora of fruits and vegetables in their yards. But last year, the teachers reached a height in their gardening skills when Cuba planted 99 sunflower seeds in his back yard. Despite losing some of the sunflowers in the storms over the summer, the flowers reached a maximum height of 13 feet. These towering plants produced equally large leafs, growing just over one foot in diameter. According to Cuba, it’s the biggest leaf most kids have seen.
blatantly different personalities lurks two teachers with surprisingly similar philosophies and teaching methods. This is what has bonded the two of them to become the comrades and power American Studies teachers known throughout the school today. When Andrews and Cuba look back on how they first met and became friends, Cuba thinks they would never have become such close friends if it weren’t for Social Studies and World Language Division Head Gary Judson. “[Judson] forced us to teach together,” Cuba said. Judson had no idea what he was unleashing upon Prospect that day. Andrews and Cuba expanded their relationship even more when they began carpooling to school together, blasting ‘90s hip-hop music out their car windows. Andrews said that at first, they just took turns teaching American Studies, but after six years of teaching the class, the two of them fell in-sync and began to teach simultaneously. “They go back and forth a lot,” junior Mike Stevens said. Stevens has been in American studies for only three weeks, but he is already realizing how peculiar the two teachers are. “It was always fun; you never really knew what they were [going to] do next,” senior Amanda Drucker said. Drucker, who had American Studies with Cuba and Andrews last year, remembers the teachers’ antics, from ripping up Cuba’s money to the two teachers using a website to create a picture of the teachers “love child” — what the teachers’ baby would look like. “They are a different kind of teacher,” social studies teacher Brad Rathe said. “In the last few years, they have gotten this idea of Zen in their teaching.” This is what has earned the two teachers the title of “The Zen Team” among their colleagues. “[Previous American Studies teachers social studies teacher Frank Mirandola and English teacher Jason Block] declared themselves the ‘A’ team, and by default they called us the ‘B’ team. We preferred the ‘Z’ team,” Cuba said.
pFRIENDSHIP ISN’T THE ONLY THING THAT GROWS: Social studies teacher John Camardella stares up at the monster sunflower that he and English teacher Michael Andrews grew together in Camardella’s garden. (Photo courtesy of John Camardella) The two teachers also lift together, garden together, read together and even have family parties. One story Cuba and Andrews tell is how they heard about Osama Bin Laden being killed while watching “River Monsters” in Cuba’s basement. The two teachers also have an invested interest in sports, but despite their involvement in athletics, the two have never faced off in either basketball or soccer. Andrews stays polite, maintaining that Cuba would win, but other teachers are less chivalrous.
“Cuba’s afraid to come out and play now, or he’s too old,” Rathe said. Another constant activity the two teachers participate in are family barbecues. Their kids play together, their wives talk and as Cuba struggles over the grill trying to barbecue fish for Andrews, who doesn’t eat red meat, the two discuss “River Monsters,” tea, Zen and their next strategy for expanding the minds of Prospect students. “Do you know how hard it is to barbecue fish?” Cuba said. “It’s hard, but he’s worth it.”