This year, Mrs. Latko has been selected Teacher of The Year for Walt Whitman High School. Here is a little inside look into who Mrs. Latko is, through her own words.

Mrs. Latko is a Whitman alumna (’88), a published poet, and a district resident; in fact, all three of her children went/go to Whitman. Mrs. Latko first taught at Whitman during the 1992-1993 school year. She started as a part-time ninth and tenth-grade teacher and has since been able to help grow and develop the English department. Mrs. Latko developed and taught a co-curricular ninth-grade social studies/English course called Project R.E.A.L. and taught an eleventh-grade British literature and creative writing course. In the late 1990s, Mrs. Latko taught in Whitman’s TV studio and updated the TV Productions course. In the early 2000s, Mrs. Latko was asked to teach Whitman’s new English course, AP Language. She was also asked to redesign Nature of Language into a semantics course.
Outside of the classroom, Mrs. Latko is very active. Over the years, Mrs. Latko has been the Freshman Class Advisor, GLO Advisor, Senior Faculty Sports Night Coordinator, and a co-host of the PTA Fashion Show. A little over a decade ago, three students asked Mrs. Latko for her help in creating what would become known as The Body Electric. Today, The Body Electric is still going strong.

For the 2016-2017 school year, Mrs. Latko teaches AP Language, Creative Writing, and Nature of Language. Every day, Mrs. Latko gets up “much earlier than [she’d] like” to “engage in learning” and do what she loves, which is “teaching writing.” As Mrs. Latko likes to say, she was not hired because she can “jump high” or sing a “gorgeous aria.” Mrs. Latko is extremely adept at and dedicated to teaching English. She even spends her lunch periods grading papers, but she enjoys every second of it (although, it often means that she has to limit her lunch options to meals that only require one hand to eat them. Oatmeal is a go-to option for her). However, Mrs. Latko’s life is not all work; she loves binge-watching Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”

Everyone here at Whitman loves Mrs. Latko. Rachel Vaughan, a current AP Language student, says that Mrs. Latko “puts the appeal in ethos.” Joanne Nguyen, another AP Language student, expressed that “Mrs. Latko’s energy foreshadows a great year to come.”

Interview Questions:

1) If you could, what class would you take at Whitman and who would you want the teacher to be?

I am answering this question based on my own short-comings. There are too many dedicated teachers at Whitman for me to pick one and suggest that one course or educator might be better than the rest.
However, I have a lot of areas that could use improvement, and we have just the experts to help. Any kind of choral music with Mr. Altinel (I have always wanted to sing…that is, to sing well), complex math with Ms. Colapinto (you should be in my class the day I have to do the AP scoring calculations lesson). Do we have a cooking class? And how much of a miracle do you think Ms. Turner-Radin can work?

2) If you could, what club/sport would join at Whitman and why? What sport/club would you not join?

Trusting that our Whitman faculty can fix just about any broken mess, I want to dance. I also want to sing. I also want Conroy to make me run faster and with less ugly faces.

3) What is one class that your department does not offer but you think it should?

You’re opening a real Can of Latko Worms with this question. I have dreams. To name a few: SAT prep, Advanced Poetry (poetry writing and focused-author studies), Sports Literature (reading and writing), Contemporary Short Fiction (a constantly-changing study on the reading of current, diverse writers and the construction of short fiction), and Social Media Writing and Research (exploring and participating in the types of writing today’s tech world needs and learning to use electronic source material wisely and appropriately).

4) What is your favorite wing/classroom in Whitman? Why?

That odd set of 200-wing hallways that includes the band, orchestra, chorus, dance and art rooms. And if you don’t know why, you should walk through there one day and just stand and listen and watch for 15 minutes. On occasion, Mr. Yolango has caught me sitting outside the orchestra room on the floor…just listening and being amazed.

5) If you could choose to be in any position at Whitman other than your own, what would it be? Why?

Overlord. Whitman Overlord. W.O. Latko (I have control problems.)

6) What is your favorite book ever?

The World According to Garp by John Irving. (And most of everything else he has ever written, too. You could also try A Prayer For Owen Meany.)

7) What is your favorite thing about Whitman?

The very varied talent that our staff brings and the energy that they offer to fuel their students’ learning experiences. In conjunction with a vibrant student body, that’s a recipe for greatness. And clearly, I am, in no way, biased.
I also like soccer. And ravioli pizza, but we don’t have that.

8) If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only bring one other Whitman faculty member, who would you bring? Why?

Questions like this are hard because we have so many talented faculty members who excel in their areas of expertise (and that’s not just the politically-correct party line; it’s the truth). Remember that, not only am I fortunate to know our talented staff personally, but my own three children have come through Whitman and their lives have been touched by and broadened by an incredible group of educators.
But we are talking desert island, right? Do I want Mr. Schmidt’s gifted math skills to help me build some kind of Professor-From-Gilligan’s-Island Rube Goldberg survival contraption? Mrs. Lizza or Mrs. Carman’s science knowledge to help me more literally stay living? Mr. Donlon or Mr. Wolff’s engaging wit and sarcasm? Can I bring a varsity volleyball player like Jack or Josh who can jump really high and maybe snag us some coconuts so we don’t have to subsist on crunchy bugs dipped in sea water?
Who are we kidding? I’m taking Pap.

9) If you were in the Hunger Games, what would your strategy be? How well do you think you would do?

Simple: I use my Ignotus Peverell Invisibility Cloak [from Harry Potter] to hide in a corner until everyone else in that barbaric dome destroys one another. (I am assuming there are no volleyball players being dropped in from little parachutes for assistance, so I will plan to avoid starvation while I wait by employing the crunchy-bugs-dipped-in-sea-water plan from question #8.)

10) Finally, are there any other miscellaneous fun facts that you would like to share?

I like hamburgers, honest people, writing, and orange.