WOODBURY — Nonnewaug High School is anything but a dull place to go to school. Within every classroom, hallway, and alcove, inviting pops of color brighten the spaces in which teachers and students spend so much of their time.

Each classroom reflects the teacher who inhabits it – whether it’s with posters, photo galleries, college pennants, or stuffed animals on the shelves – often holding a meaning or lesson that goes beyond physical appearance. 

The staff of Nonnewaug aims to make the learning experience of students a fruitful one: one that goes beyond what their curriculum teaches. Their classrooms are often a reflection of that, displaying the unique qualities they bring to the table that students often reminisce about for years to come.

The Chief Advocate visited many classrooms around Nonnewaug to learn the stories behind staff members’ decor.

Nonnewaug biology teacher Toby Denman describes the many items on his walls as “historical artifacts of my time and the time of others at Nonnewaug High School.” Denman’s quick-witted sense of humor and understanding personality, which have made him a fan favorite for generations of Nonnewaug students, surface throughout his classroom in multiple ways.

Whether it’s his big stuffed animal snake, his many pictures from soccer games over the years, or his “emotional support dinosaur” (pictured inside the basketball hoop), Denman’s room has something for everyone. “The dinosaur is affectionately known as the emotional support dinosaur,” he said of the little stuffed animal, which often makes appearances during his classes. “There’s a story, and anyone who’s interested can know when they graduate.”

Nonnewaug English teacher Conor Gereg has multiple decorated areas in his classroom, but perhaps the most unique is in the back corner of the room: his bulletin board dedicated to his time spent “teaching overseas, and the experience of working with students from across the world, specifically students from Budapest, Hungary,” he said.

As a teacher of multiple English courses, Gereg often finds ways to incorporate his time teaching across the pond into his lessons, providing students with an alternate perspective that not many teachers can say they are able to give from first-hand experience. For Gereg, the bulletin board not only serves as a window into his experience in Budapest, but also as “a reminder of how big the world is, and [how] we are just a small part of a bigger whole.”

Kyle Brennan is heavily involved in the Nonnewaug community – not only is he a history and journalism teacher, but he is also the NHS assistant baseball coach, athletic site supervisor, and the founder of Nonnewaug’s cornhole club. Both in the classroom and on the playing fields, Brennan makes it his mission to help students rise to success. His banner wall represents a manifestation of this mission in his own life.

“In the span of two months, my [alma mater] won the national championship – Quinnipiac hockey – followed by [Nonnewaug] winning the state championship in baseball,” he reflected. And while he says that the banners tend most to “catch people’s attention the first time they walk in,” they serve as an omnipresent reminder of greatness. “I look back at that state championship banner,” he said, “and think, ‘Man, that was great.’”

Nonnewaug history teacher Michael Sturges’ classroom contains something that most people wouldn’t usually think of as being in a classroom: a retro, customized stereo system, complete with a set of five records which rotate out at the beginning of each school week. On any given day, the melodies of his eclectic music collection can be heard coming from his classroom as students and teachers walk by.

There are multiple purposes behind his setup: not only does it teach his students something about himself, but Sturges also utilizes his expansive knowledge of music as a teaching tool in all of his history courses. Perhaps the most simple reason, though, is how Sturges describes it. “It makes me feel like there’s a little bit of home here,” he said. “I find it comforting.” 

While English teacher Ben Guerette’s classroom is on the less colorful side of the spectrum, there are poignantly-placed mementos in his teaching space that encapsulate his cherished humorous personality. One of these items is a bobblehead – of himself.

“I’ve got a lot of, ‘Is that supposed to be you?’” Guerette said of students asking him about his look-alike. “To me it’s uncanny how much it looks like me, but I guess it would be weird if I had a bobblehead of just a random guy that wasn’t me.”

Wellness teacher and wrestling coach Dave Green has been a staple of the Nonnewaug community for nearly 30 years, as both a teacher and a wrestling coach. As someone who likes to use his own life experiences as teaching tools, his classroom memorabilia is purposeful, and has “a little bit of everything, from [subject-related items] to personal to former student stuff.” While his active schedule can cause his surroundings to “become white noise after a while,” he says that student questions often reinvigorate the memories that they hold.

“I think that sometimes,” he said, “if a student comes in and asks, ‘Who did that? What is that?’ Then I can tell them about a student or a thing that happened and things like that, kind of cool big connections.”

Since library media specialist Deb Flaherty, left, joined the Nonnewaug community in the fall of 2022, the Nonnewaug LMC has become noticeably more colorful and popular with students than it was in years past. Flaherty and her assistants, Stephanie Deering and Dawn Maletzke, place a lot of emphasis on making the space as “vibrant and moving” as possible, both for students and staff.

Creating this sense of “warmth” has perhaps been the most important goal atop Flaherty’s priority list since coming to Nonnewaug, where she already coached boys outdoor track and field. “When people come in they don’t want to feel cold,” she explained, “and doing things with displays makes it friendly.”

The infectious school spirit of Declan Curtin, Nonnewaug’s athletic director and dean of students, can be felt throughout the school building and on the athletic fields at all times of the year. His passion for sport is paralleled by just one other thing: a great pride in his family and his history. The painting of Ireland’s Dunguaire Castle on his wall is evidence of this, as it is a constant reminder of Curtin’s family history.

“That’s my roots,” he emphasized. “I always want to make sure that I know where I came from, because my family growing up didn’t have much back in the day. I grew up in rural Ireland, with not a lot of money, but the family’s done really well and worked really hard, and that’s kind of something I’m very proud of.” This, coupled with the “phenomenal” shots of generations of student-athletes on the walls, make Curtin’s office extremely reflective of the person he is. As he puts it, “It is literally everything that I represent.”

Junior and especially senior students at Nonnewaug spend copious amounts of time in counselor Kathy Green’s office, the College and Career Resource Center. Green, a post-high school planning resource that not many schools can say they have, has created a niche for herself unlike any other individual in the school building.

As she says, her office space is reflective of the many opportunities available to students, as well as a constant reminder of “where students have gone and where they may choose to go. They make me think about all the kids I’ve worked with and the present ones.” On a more silly note, she jokes that the most overwhelming thing that her decor reminds her of is of “all the other [flags] I’m supposed to put up.”

As the space where she spends “most of my day, every day,” English teacher Marisa Holtman aims to make her room “feel warm and welcoming” – and that she does. Many students enjoy her classes not just for her bubbly personality and her engaging teaching style, but also for the inviting mood of her classroom, complete with strung-up lights.

“I guess it just represents my interests and things that I love and things that make me feel happy,” she said of her space. “It just feels comfortable and cozy.”

The classroom of Katie Gorman, Nonnewaug’s agricultural production teacher, serves multiple purposes besides being the home base for her hands-on classes. “This is the space where we have faculty breakfast, [FFA alumni] meetings, and advisory meetings,” she explained. “For many individuals, their first interaction with the [agriscience] program is in this room, so how they feel and how welcome they feel, as well as warmth, dictates how they are going to feel about the program.”

Her room is a versatile space, perhaps best evidenced by the homemade chicken coop dresser that is transformed each year into a comfortable first home for chicks born in the spring. And as Gorman adds, the busy schedule of an involved ag teacher means that there are “weeks where I spend more time here than I do at my own house, and feeling like this space is mine helps [me] push through the day.”

For math teacher Laurenn Bertoglio, Nonnewaug is a place that she feels especially lucky to be able to come to each day for work. Her collection of newspaper clippings, meticulously compiled starting at the beginning of each school year, is evidence enough of her dedication to the school community.

“I love this school and the kids that are in it, and it just makes it a place I want to be at everyday and like to come to,” Bertoglio says. She adds that she hopes her bulletin boards serve as a reminder to students that “this is a good place to be, and that they are cared about, and that it’s just a fun place to learn” as they do for her.

Genna Riggi is constantly undertaking new projects as both a digital arts teacher and Nonnewaug’s yearbook advisor, the fruits of which can be seen all around the school. She describes her workspace corner as being filled with ample memorabilia from various “chapters of my life,” ranging from photos of her extensive world travels to old student art. These experiences, Riggi says, have shaped her “not only as an educator but also as an individual” and help to keep her present in whatever it is she might be doing.

“When I see inspiration around me I feel like I’m able to deliver inspiring messages to my students,” she said. “[My decor] keeps me focused on what really matters – I think when times become mundane, [and] days become repetitive, I feel that these walls remind me what life is all about.”

Nonnewaug history teacher Scott Parkhouse teaches a variety of courses, including one called History Through Film. The class places a lot of emphasis on using visuals as a teaching tool, which has made it a definite student favorite over the years. He describes his multiple movie posters – including the films Rocky and the science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers – as being “eye-catching” features of the room that “leave some curiosity” in both students and visiting adults.

Parkhouse also values his Wall of Fame bulletin board as a display of student talent. “It’s a place where I put up student work where the student has gone above and beyond the assignment, and it’s just a standout assignment,” he said. “It gives the students something to work toward because everybody wants to be up on the Wall of Fame; [it gives] them a little competition and a chance for them to display their good work.”