Get to know our faculty a little better! Today we feature Mr. Stephen Lombardo, who teaches eighth grade boys' Latin, transfer Latin, and Drama.
We asked Mr. Lombardo, "how did you find Trinity school, and how did you end up involved in the drama program?"
His answer:
"I graduated from Ave Maria University in 2014, and my senior thesis was on aspects of the Chinese political regime. After graduation, I decided I wanted to live in China, and discovered that teaching could be a vehicle for me to get over there. At the time I didn't think of myself as a teacher, but the experience opened my eyes to the beauty of teaching.
"At first I was just teaching English as a second language, but I persuaded my school that it would be worthwhile for the students to participate in a drama course, as well as some speech and debate classes. Teaching those students to have confidence in speaking the English language, was a hard and strange and awesome experience. I found that the students didn't know how to express emotion well in English, but after studying Shakespeare for a semester, they learned to express themselves much more honestly.
"After two years of teaching in China, I was ready to come back to the U.S. I shared with some of my friends that I was looking to continue a teaching career here. Another Ave Maria graduate, Mr. Charles Atkinson, was teaching Latin at TSMV at the time, and he reached out.
"Originally I was going to teach Latin and Humane Letters here, but then the possibility came up that I might teach drama as well. I've found the same amazing transformation in the students here that I saw in my students in China. I see students discovering how beautiful language can be … In my opinion, acting is the highest form of art critique. In order to portray a character fairly, you have to examine them, you have to grapple with their choices … you have to really enter into their world in order to portray them in an honest way."
Mr. Lombardo enjoys swing dancing and international backpacking.
Come see Mr. Lombardo's students as they perform Shakespeare's "Love's Labor's Lost" this Friday and Saturday, December 13 and 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Posez Jewish Community Center (doors open at 7:00)!