This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Antonio Vezzetti, a new Special Education teacher & football coach, sheds light on the importance of inclusive teaching and communicates his passion in supporting the success of all students. He expresses excitement in his position at Barrington and the supportive environment it fosters.

Q: How would you say your experience teaching at Barrington has been so far?

AV: It’s been awesome. I’ve been in a couple other school districts, and to me, this is the best community that I’ve been a part of. The students are great. The staff has been great. Everything about it so far I’ve liked.

Q: What steered you towards wanting to be a special education teacher?

AV: I knew I wanted to go into education, and I wanted to work with kids. I have some family members that receive special education, so it was something I was definitely interested in. I think that all kids deserve equal education and good education.

Q: Has there been any overlap between the wrestling sphere and the football sphere that you currently coach?

AV: In every sport you have to work hard, show up to practice, and reap the benefits of doing so. I’m trying to preach that to the kids that if you work, you’ll get positive results, and vice versa. So there’s definitely some overlap. I try to take the lessons that I learned wrestling in college or in high school and pass them down to the athletes.

Q: Do you find that your high school culture when you were a student is different from what you see here now?

AV: I would say it’s similar, but definitely different in a few ways. I was in high school from 2012 to 2016, so things were a bit different. Everyone says how different the times are, and they are in certain aspects, but I feel like high schoolers are high schoolers, no matter what era.

Q: Do you think there’s a stronger relationship now between a teacher and their students as opposed to in the past?

AV: I would say it’s about the same. I feel like that has nothing to do with the time, but rather, the teacher specifically. I had some great teachers in high school, and I had some bad teachers. I don’t believe that had much to do with when I went to school, just who my teacher was at the time.

Q: Do you yourself find yourself reflecting on any memorable moments with students?

AV: Yeah, I feel like every teacher has those kids that they’re either proud of or they put a lot of work into. My first year teaching, I coached and worked with kids at Hersey that are in college now. To me, that’s a success story. It’s memorable when you hear kids that you know or you mentored going off to study engineering, becoming nurses, or pursuing whatever area they’re interested in.

Q: Would you say that your overarching long-term goal for your students would be setting them up for success?

AV: Definitely. And everyone’s success looks different. I feel like nowadays, a lot of people want to push kids towards college. But for some, college is not the answer. Whether students go to a trade school out of high school, into the military, or to college, I want to help them get there and succeed.

Q: Do you think the idea that not all students are destined to go to college or aren’t college bound has been well addressed and supported in our school?

AV: I would, they work to include everyone, and that’s awesome. When I was in high school, there was not an option to not go to college. It was never welcoming to other paths. It was like, if you’re not going to school, what are you doing? And I feel like that’s the wrong message to send to kids because, like I said, it’s not for everyone. When you’re telling someone that they’re not going to be successful if they don’t go to college when it’s not a good fit, then they’re going to feel lost.

Q: Do you adopt certain teaching strategies/philosophies from sources of inspiration, or do you develop them as you go from your own experiences?

AV: I feel like it’s both, with teaching and with coaching. Like I said, we’ve all had good teachers and bad teachers. I kind of pick and choose little things from each teacher or coach that I’ve had and make them my own. I’m new in the school, so using past experiences that I’ve had has really been helpful. You learn very quickly whether they’re effective or not through trial and error. I also adopt strategies that I’ve seen already and liked, then put my own flair on them.