Mrs. Rugiero is a younger and somewhat newer English teacher to Hillcrest, but many students love her like she’s always been here. She enjoys being a part of the community, and is happy to be so connected with the kids she currently teaches and ones that she taught in the past. Since she’s this week’s subject for our staff interview series, Rampage asked her four unique questions, to which she gave her most thoughtful answers!
What’s the best book you’ve read lately?
“Okay, so, I did just have a baby, so I wish I could’ve read way more when I was on my maternity leave. Unfortunately he decided that he wanted to be held the entire four months that I was on maternity leave. It’s kind of hard to hold a baby and read a book, so I didn’t read as much, but end of last school year, one book I really read was ‘Girl in Pieces.’ It’s really dark and twisty, and I love dark and twisty things, and it has very real themes… it’s not based on a true story but it’s supposed to be, like, about a real person.”
What was your favorite age to be and why?
“I enjoyed that 18-20 range, but I graduated high school early, so that was my beginning of college. I graduated high school at 17 and I started college at 17, so really like that senior year of high school to, like, sophomore year of college time was so fun. I did not make good grades, I just did what I wanted whenever I wanted and I didn’t have as much responsibility. So I traveled a lot, my best friend and I drove to Minnesota by ourselves- 24 hour drive by ourselves, we didn’t stop. We went to New Hampshire, Florida; one day, I think I was 19, she texted me after work and was like, let’s go to the beach. I said sure, she said it’s 10 pm, grab your stuff, and we stayed at Isle of Palms. But it was really fun, I liked that age a lot.”
Out of every school year you’ve taught, which one was your favorite?
“I can tell you which one was my least favorite! My first year teaching was really hard because I was 21 years old and I was teaching seniors, and they were 18. So I was three years older than them. That was really hard. But I think I really liked my first year here, so it was 2022-2023. I really liked that year because I got to teach sophomores for the first time, because I only taught seniors and as much as I love seniors, they leave. Having my sophomores come visit me now, and they’re seniors now, is nice because I get to actually see them again. But honestly, I really liked all my years here.”
What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment?
“I have a couple big accomplishments; I have a son, and probably my biggest accomplishment in life is becoming a mom. It’s been so cool, I didn’t think that I could have kids, so now that I have a son it’s been so awesome. I love him, his name is Franklin and he’s the cutest little boy. So maybe that one, but also I will admit graduating college for me actually was a big one too because I’m first gen college. Nobody in my family graduated college. It was hard, it was very hard. My parents didn’t even know how to fill out FAFSA- all the college things, they didn’t know. They didn’t even know how to apply for it. I had to get my transcripts, I had to do everything. So graduating for me was kind of cool too because my parents didn’t go, my grandparents didnt go, they didn’t all go… Learning how to drive a stick shift car, that’s been a pretty big accomplishment. I’ve been driving my car for eight years and it’s stick shift but I’ll never forget when I learned how to drive it. The first two days I was learning I think I cried the entire time I was doing it, like every single time I turned on the car I cried because I didn’t know how to drive it.”
Overall, Mrs. Rugiero is regarded as a sweet and relatable teacher with plenty to talk about with. She is welcoming to all her students, especially her current and past ones. If you’ve had her, stop by for a visit!
