Mr. Vernango is an amazing teacher here at DHS and has agreed to answer a few questions for our newspaper:)

Q~ What is your favorite thing about working here? (Linda Lazareanu)

A~ That my sons will be part of the community when they grow up. That anything I do, they will be able  to enjoy with their friends when they get here. (Phil Vernango)

Q~ Something you want to change here? (L.L.)

A~ To continue to try to give Dakota a small community feel in such a big school. Things like Cougar Fest, where people of all ages can come and eat at food trucks and just make everyone feel closer together. It’s also a great opportunity for parents to see the school their kids will be attending later.          (P.V.)

Q~ How long have you been a teacher? At Dakota? (L.L.)

A~ It is my tenth year working as a teacher and my third year here at Dakota (P.V.)

Q~ What pushed you to become a teacher and when was this? (L.L.)

A~ I was coaching at the age of 16 and always loved it. My grandfather helped me find out what I wanted to be and since I loved coaching kids I decided to become a teacher. Something that is kind of interesting about my family and teachers is that there are 13 teachers in my family:) (P.V)

Q~ What college(s) did you go to? (L.L.)

A~ I went to MSU for my undergraduates degree, Saginaw Valley for my teaching degree and Madona University for my masters.(P.V.)

Q~ Do you help out with any clubs or sports or anything like that? (L.L.)

A~ I run Link Crew, am a helper for baseball, coach youth football and basketball, and sell real estate full time.

Q~ Favorite sport? (L.L.)

A~ Football. (P.V.)

Q~ Favorite movie? (L.L.)

A~ Beverly Hills Cop (P.V.)

Q~ Favorite food? (L.L.)

A~ Chicken parm. (P.V.)

Q~ Favorite book? (L.L.)

A~ “Are You My Mother?” I have kids and we enjoy this book:) (P.V.)

Q~ What courses do you think are the most valuable here? (L.L.)

A~ I love the CTE classes. I think that the medical program, teacher cadet and the many others that we have here are all great. Not all schools do these types of things so it’s awesome that our students have the opportunity to do them. (P.V.)

Q~ Do you have any pet peeves? (L.L.)

A~ When students start off a sentence with “You don’t understand…!”.  Anyone who goes into education, they do it because they do understand. (P.V.)

Q~ Something that most people don’t know about you? (L.L.)

A~ That I grew up a Michigan fan up until I was about 16. (P.V.)

Q~ If you could meet any person (from any time period), who would you meet and why? (L.L.)

A~ My dad’s dad. He died when my dad was 2 and I was named after him. I just heard he was an amazing person and I would love to meet him. (P.V.)

Q~ What is Link Crew and what is your goal with the program? When was is made? What is Link Crews vision? (L.L.)

A~ Link Crew is a mentoring program to help 9th graders transition into the 10-12 building and have a successful year as 10th graders. We hope to progress the program every year and to change it for the better. The program was made in the 2016-2017 school year. Link crew is Mr. Sibley’s baby. He researched the programs and chose this one. We hope to keep his vision for the program alive.