I always thought of a high school gym class as something to get out of the way. It’s like
pilling teeth, you just want to get it over with so that you can move on and fulfill your
graduation requirement. That was my attitude until I met Mr. Mancuso. Up until I met Mr. M, I
has been stuck with a slue of gym teachers who it seemed to hate teaching the class and were
more interested in getting us out of there than actually teaching us. Needless to say, my first
few years of high school gym sucked. All the teachers took the class way too seriously as if
failing gym will have any barometer on your future success.
Mr. Mancuso brought a fun atmosphere to the class and was really able to relate to, and
connect with the kids. Mr. Mancuso loves to get involved with the kids during gym. I
remember a time when we were playing badminton and most of the class was not very
into it, but he was able to get us involved through a tournament and the winner of the
student bracket would have the opportunity to play him for a prize. However, what we
didn’t know is that he is an amazing badminton player and we all got dominated. It was
little things like this that helped me to finally enjoy gym and make it a class that I looked
forward to. Mr. Mancuso cares about the kids and is always interested in what is going
on in the kid’s lives. He wants to know how things are going, especially when it comes to
sporting events around the school. Just showing interest in our lives sets him apart
above the rest and that is why I am nominating Mr. Mancuso for teacher of the year.