For this installment of the Teacher Feature, we interviewed Mr. Anthony Ramienski. Mr. Ramienski grew up in Massapequa, New York. This also happens to be the childhood home of famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld. When asked what he thinks of when he thinks of this place, he simply says ‘home’. He still has family there and he visits yearly. Mr. Ramienski came to education as a second career having spent the first few decades of his adult life in the armed forces. While Mr. Ramienski studied history and political science as an undergrad, he was in the ROTC program. After earning his Bachelor’s degree, Mr. Ramienski attended Columbia University where he earned his Master’s degree.

After graduating from Columbia in 1979, Mr. Ramienski went on active duty. As part of the ROTC program, he owed 4 years of active duty service to the United States Army. He spent the next 24 years on active duty. Mr. Ramienski specialized in Military Intelligence, Tactical Intelligence, and Signals Intelligence. During his years serving our nation, Mr. Ramienski saw combat in both Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983 and Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990 and 1991. He also has 94 parachute jumps, enough to earn his Master Parachutist Badge. By the time he retired from his military career, Mr. Ramienski earned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In 2003 Mr. Ramienski retired from the Army and once again entered school to earn his teaching certificate. He did a few long term sub positions before accepting a full time job teaching Modern World History here at Tuscarora in 2005. So, Mr. Ramineski has pretty much been a Titan for the entirety of his teaching career which spans the past eleven years. In June of this year, Mr. Ramienski is hanging up his gloves and retiring from education so that he can spend more time with family, traveling, and just generally enjoying his retired life.

When asked what he appreciates most about Tuscarora, Mr. Ramienski says, without hesitation, the students and their eagerness to learn about the subject. When asked to level a criticism at education in general, Mr. Ramiesnki explains that he feels that the people who occupy the highest levels of leadership positions in this profession, nationwide, are lacking in classroom experience. “Either they have very little experience at all, or their experience is so long ago that it’s no longer relevant” explains Mr. Ramienski.

When asked how he spends his free time, Mr. Ramienski laments that scoring papers and planning lessons consumes much of his waking time which serves as a primary factor in deciding to retire at the end of the year. A piece of advice that he would like to pass along to the students of THS is a quote from Lord Baden Powell “Be prepared”. He also paraphrases Robert Heinlein “specialization is for insects” Mr. Ramienski expounds on this by explaining that people should be able to do a lot of things and they should be able to do a lot of things well.

We will certainly be sad to see Mr. Ramienski leave our halls and we wish him the best of what life has to offer in his retirement. We thank you, Mr. Anthony Ramienski, for your years of service to our nation and for your years of service to our school and its community.