Hi! My name is Mrs. Divino. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island in a town called Cedarhurst, which is part of a group of communities called the Five Towns. My favorite memory from elementary school happened in 5th grade. For our big fifth grade field trip, we went out on a fishing boat. I was especially excited because my father was coming on the trip! Usually my mother was the one to chaperone as my dad was always busy working. When the boat brought us far enough out in the ocean, the guide showed us how to put the bait on the fishing hook and how to cast off. After a while, some of the other kids started to catch fish. They were only little tiny fish that had to be thrown back into the ocean. I wanted to catch a fish so badly. Suddenly, I felt a tug on my fishing line! I started to reel in the fish; it was so strong! My fishing pole was bending but I kept reeling. My dad offered to help me, but I wanted to do it all on my own. After what felt like forever, I finally had the fish out of the water and it was big enough to keep! I was so proud of myself, and I was the only kid on the whole trip who caught a fish big enough that it didn’t need to be thrown back.

When I think back on all of the teachers I had, my favorite is my third grade teacher Mrs. Pater. She was very funny, very caring and always pushed me to do my best. Mrs. Pater stands out not for what she did for me, but rather what she did for a boy in my class. Robert came to our class in the middle of the school year, and had great difficulty reading and didn’t yet have any friends. I remember Mrs. Pater sitting with him during independent reading time, helping him read a book called More Spaghetti I Say. After a lot of practice and hard work, Robert was able to read the book out loud to the class. Mrs. Pater was so pleased with him that she announced we would be having a spaghetti party in honor of Robert! Looking back on this, as an adult and a teacher, I see that Mrs. Pater did more than just help Robert read a book. She gave him confidence and helped him to make friends in a new school.