The End of an Era at SBHS

Me and Mr. Michael Sheridan and Kelli Smith of Saddle Brook High School at their retirement dinner.

Last Thursday night, I went to the retirement dinner for two of Saddle Brook High School's finest teachers, Michael Sheridan and Kelli Smith. I was very proud of be a student at Saddle Brook High, most of my family had attended there. I also had most of the teachers my mother and aunts and uncles had. These teachers were superb and if you ask any alumnus of this school, they will tell you how these teachers were like legends to the students. These two teachers were no expcetion.

My mother was the oldest of five and of those five, four married their high school sweethearts from Saddle Brook High, so the Saddle Brook spirit is ingrained in my family. My grandfather also worked in the school system for several years. I believe every year from 1974 to 2007 someone in my family was in that school, and the relationships with the same teachers lived on all those years to the point where some of these teachers were more like family! But what was great for all the alumni was the feeling that the teachers within themselves were a family, and that was a key element to their success as master educators. Many of them were at the retirement dinner and it was a complete honor to be in their presence. 

I met Kelli Smith in middle school when the middle school classes would rotate quarterly with elective classes with high school teachers. At that time she was the Foods class teacher. But she contributed a great deal more to the school than just Foods class as she had single-highhandedly developed curriculum and programs in the school that went beyond home economics. Her foods class was only part of a greater picture. Ms Smith also incorporated classes dealing with family planning to leadership classes that all pertained to what was called "Life Skills" classes. 

Ms Smith also was very involved in other departments, particularly with the music department and band program. Former band director, Robert Kaplan, gave a great tribute to Ms Smith, acknowledging her tremendous support and participation in the program. This past year the district cut her program. Things like this anger me and scare me. It's our country continues to cut programs such as "Life Skills" away from the schools, the other academics like reading and writing will be useless, since our future students will have nothing to read or write about! Our towns need to stand up and find a way to keep these programs alive! Kelli Smith made a phenomenal contribution to Saddle Brook High through these classes and it is a tremendous loss for the district to have her go. I wish her well on her future endeavors and thank her for her contributions to a school I loved so much.

On a personal note, this guy above here who always stood at his desk with one leg up as I am imitating in the picture above, I had for three years. I can say with full confidence, and with no worry about any retribution for making this statement as it is agreed upon by not only the student body but the faculty that has come and gone through the district over thirty years: Mike Sheridan was the greatest teacher Saddle Brook High School ever had!

This man knew EVERYTHING. One of the most intelligent people I have ever met, Mike Sheridan not only had a plethora of knowledge of a scope of topics so vast, it's a wonder where he keeps this date stored in that brain of his, but was also one of the greatest master educators I have ever come across. I began teaching very young and when I was going through school, I was very keen on observing educator's teaching styles, the structure of their curriculum, their use of repetition and association, how they presented the information and topics, their ability to answer questions -- I don't know, I guess I am just weird that way. But Mr. Sheridan was a class act.

One of the teachers used to called him Yahweh, or God. One of the teachers who gave tribute to him at the dinner actually referred to him as "Michael Sheridan, a.k.a GOD"! She followed up with a chuckling "I'm really sick of hearing that Mike!" But it was so true! Because just about everyone would make that joke about him! I had Mr. Sheridan for sophomore year's AP U.S History, and junior and senior years AP English classes on World Literature and American Literature. I don't remember ever writing and reading so much in ANY class I have ever taken, not even college.

But this is my personal account for Mr. Sheridan. I was an A/B student. But I could never get past a C+ on my essays with him. It got to a point where I just felt his expectations were impossible. No matter what I did, I couldn't get past that C+. I worked harder and harder to the point where I felt like why bother! I got the As and Bs because of tests and participation, but the big essays were a block for me. But there was much more to his madness that I didn't figure out until my senior year of high school, and it stayed with me forever. 

My senior year of high school, I took four college courses at Montclair State University. In those classes and major exams, I had FULL MARKS on all my writing assignments and essays. I couldn't believe it! And it occurred, Mr. Sheridan never set a bar for his students. He knew he would be doing injustice to his students by limiting us, and as any great educator and mentor would do, he continued to push the envelope and have us tap more and more into our potential. We were "trained" so to speak to never be satisfied and always find a way to get better and better.

More than history or literature, Mr. Sheridan taught me to be a great teacher. For this is something that I always used for myself as a student, and as myself as a teacher. I always kept the standards high and placed them higher and higher as my own students progressed and as a teacher, I couldn't believe what I was able to get out of my students. To this day I use this philosophy in my teaching. Mr. Sheridan has a tremendous influence on me as a teacher and a huge impact on me. Years ago, I went to college originally to become a history and English teacher because I wanted his job. But those who know my story, life took me in a few different turns, but today I still get to teach what I love to teach most. And I thank Mr. Sheridan for all he has taught us.

There are even a few Sheridan-isms I stil have and sayings that have become my own through my years of teaching. The catch phrases of "It's EXCITING!" and "I KNOW!" or the one leg up on the table or chair like in the above picture where I am imitating him. Everyone knew that Sheridan pose, including a picture below of a fellow teacher, Ms Reedy imitating him, HAHA.

Ms Reedy imitating Mr. Sheridan's standing pose

Mr. Sheridan's signature stance!

One of the presenters mentioned in her speech that she was once called the Michael Sheridan of Biology. I have a similar story, where one of my students who had Mr. Sheridan also told ME that I  was the Michael Sheridan of martial arts. To be called the Michael Sheridan of anything is a HUGE compliment. His son-in-law asked during his speech if anyone remembered who won best actor in their senior year of high school, or who won MVP in the world series, and no one could remember. Then he asked if anyone could remember if anyone could remember a teacher who had an impact on them. Everyone's hands went up.

It's true. It's our teachers who are our real heroes and the one's who have the greatest impact on our lives. Kelli Smith and Mike Sheridan were two wonderful examples of that. This is the end of the long term teachers from SBHS. I was so blessed and am so grateful to have experienced these master educators. It was a huge honor to be in the presence of most of them last week, and I thank them all for the many years of teaching and service they have given to us, the students and alumni of Saddle Brook High School. I wish Ms Smith and Mr. Sheridan the very best in their retirement and hope they receive all that they deserve. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (BOWS)

The SBHS Legends: Jack Impomeni, Helen Hymanson, Jeff Weiss, Ida Luteran, Seta Basmadjin, Dottie Filipek, Mike Sheridan, Mr. Bukowski, Debbie Anaya, Bill Schmaltz, Stanley Yarosz, Pat Heany, Pat Dolan, Robert Kaplan, Barbara Yarosz, and Paul Bachman.

Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO