WOODBURY — Well known journalist and Nonnewaug social studies teacher Kyle Brennan has been involved in journalism for quite some time.
“I started being a journalist my senior year of high school, so around 17 years now,” said Brennan, who has written for the Republican-American and covered the 2012 London Olympics for NBC, among other roles. “I started teaching [journalism] my second year here, in the fall of 2020.”
But Brennan won’t be teaching journalism at Nonnewaug in the 2025-26 school year. He spoke out on why he needed to leave the program he has been in for so long.
“We’re changing some of the courses in the social studies department,” Brennan said. “Right now, juniors take U.S. history, but we are changing so that sophomores will take it instead, which means that next year, we have to catch up and teach both. A lot of us have to pull some extra weight and teach more U.S. history classes, so there’s just not enough room in my schedule to teach journalism next year unfortunately.”
The other two journalism teachers, Conor Gereg and Benjamin Guerette, now have to face the challenge of not having Brennan teaching the subject.
“Not having Mr. Brennan teaching a section of journalism is a tremendous loss,” Gereg said. “He’s the face of our program and the driving force as to why we’ve been named as a back-to-back nationally recognized program.”
“Brennan has so much knowledge and is so generous with his time and attention,” Guerette adds. “Mr. Gereg and I will have our hands full. I think, at best, we’ll be able to do a pale imitation of what Brennan has been able to accomplish.”
Even with Brennan leaving, Gereg and Guerette are stepping up to keep it going.
“Luckily there’s still Mr. Gereg; he has journalism experience as well and has learned a lot over the last couple years and I think he does a terrific job,” Brennan said. “We had Mr. Guerette this year, and he took on the challenge to learn the ins and outs of journalism.”
Still, Gereg said the program won’t be the same next year without Brennan.
“It’s like the 1994 Bulls without Michael Jordan,” Gereg said. “We’ll still be successful without him, but his aura will be omnipresent and we’ll be eagerly awaiting the day he says, I’m back.”
Even with a loss, many will rise to carry on the mission of the Chief Advocate, which inducted its first group of editors into the Quill and Scroll Honor Society this year.
“Between those two teachers and all the strong editors who have really grown to become leaders, I think the program will continue to be high-quality next year even without me teaching the classes,” Brennan said.
Gereg agreed that the editors will have to play an even bigger role next year.
“We have some incredibly talented writers returning, so there’s no question we keep the ship afloat without him, temporarily,” Gereg said, “but the program will miss having him more directly involved next year.”
