This past school year, Elder lost one of their many English teachers, Mr. Reiring. This left an opportunity for ’14 Elder graduate Mr. Noah Mastruserio to come back and teach at his former high school. I had the opportunity this past week to sit down and talk with Mr. Mastruserio.

Experience as a Student

I started off asking about his experience as a student at Elder. His overall emphasis was he very involved with the school outside of the classroom. He was a part of the cross country and track team during all four years of his time at Elder. He was a part of the yearbook club and was a student ambassador. He was also a part of the honors program as his time as a student. Overall, Mr. Mastruserio had a good time as a student for Elder and was very involved.

Reason for becoming a teacher

When I asked about what made him want to be a teacher he responded, “It was an accident.” After college he had a student aid position at St. Francis Over the Rhine. He knew after this experience that he wanted to teach students.

Teaching Experience

Mr. Mastruserio has had a few teaching jobs and experiences before his return to Elder. It all started with his student aid position at St. Francis Over the Rhine. This is the job that started his career as a teacher, and he was there for three years. He then had the opportunity to be a college professor at the University of Maryland. Now in his return to Elder, he comes back with the experience of five years of teaching and two as a teacher in a college environment.

Reason for teaching English

English has always been Mr. Mastruserio’s favorite subject. When asked why he responded, “I just love to read and write.” This was the main reason Mr. Mastruserio decided to teach the subject English. He spends most of his free time reading and learning how to become an even better writer.

Favorite thing in English

Mr. Mastruserio loves reading, but his love for writing is even larger. It is his favorite thing to do in English. It is also his favorite thing to teach about. “I want to use my writing skill to help my students to become better writers.” Writing is the main reason to why he loves the subject English.

Experience back at Elder

It has been great for Mr. Mastruserio in his few weeks back at Elder. He said, “There is something new or different whenever I look around from my time at Elder.” He is very happy to be back and is excited to teach the new students of Elder.

Looking forward to this year

Mr. Mastruserio is most excited about this school year to see how his students’ progress in their writing skills throughout the year. The beginning of the year his students were assigned a beginning essay, this will be used to look back on as the year and see how the students’ writing progresses. His main overall focus in the class is all about writing. It goes from how to properly write notes, to becoming a better writer.

Mr. Mastruseri dropped out of journalism?

A little fun fact if you did not know, Mr. Mastruserio took Mr. Rogers journalism class for a single day and dropped out. When asked on why he did this he said, “I found out Mr. Rogers was going to make us do a lot of work.” He also saw that there was a class about Shakespear and wanted to join that instead.

Student Interviews

That is all for my interview with Mr. Mastruserio, but I invited my fellow peers Brett Graves and Carson Mahaffey. I gave them a list of three questions for them to answer about Mr. Mastruserio and his class.

I started off with their thoughts about Mr. Mastruserio as a teacher. They both overall said that they think he is funny and is cool. They both like his class. Their thoughts about his class are they are learning a lot and are exciting to learn more about English with Mr. Mastruserio.

And last is what they are most excited for. Brett said the reading The Great Gatsby. “I like reading, it is one of my favorite things about English class.” Carson said that he cannot wait to become a better writer after taking his class

Overview on Mr. Mastruserio

Overall, Mr. Mastruserio is very excited and pleased to come back to teach at Elder High School. He is excited this upcoming year, and his students are too. His focus point is helping his students become better writers and help teach them new ways to learn.