Embarrassing Moments from Your Favorite Teachers

Many of you may think that your teachers only exist within the bubble of Pennridge High School, but believe it or not, they do live normal lives outside of school and they also had childhoods. As we all know, with childhood comes all kinds of moments we’d like to forget.

Aaron Rapsinksi, who teaches Algebra 1B, Algebra 2, and Pre-Calculus at Pennridge, certainly remembers one of his most humiliating high school moments. Rapsinski, who also is the head tennis coach and an assistant coach for the boys’ soccer team, recalls his junior year as a member of the soccer team at PHS. He was filling in as goalie for the injured starter when the opposing team advanced towards him. They launched a shot into the box, but he was ready. He dove for the ball, grabbed it, and fell to the ground, seemingly stopping the goal. Except he didn’t. Somehow, the ball had inexplicably slipped through his fingers into the wide-open net. At halftime, Coach Valimont reassured him that it wasn’t his fault and the other team had scored a good goal. However, to add insult to injury, Rapsinski’s brother jumped up and yelled, “What are you talking about? Aaron threw the ball into the net.” Even the bond of family was not enough to stop him from getting called out in front of the entire team. Rapsinski shook his head remembering the moment, saying “my brother will never let me live that down.”

Another math teacher at Pennridge recalled a very different moment, perhaps even more embarrassing. David Cressman, who teaches Personal Finance, Algebra 1, and Algebra 2, thought back to elementary school, where he was a part of a rather uncomfortable situation. In art class, the students were instructed to draw ancient Roman characters, which calls to mind the biologically accurate sculptures the Romans used to make. Mr. Cressman took this a little too much to heart and his finished product had some male body parts that are not exactly appropriate to be shown around children. Cressman says his drawing was “a little too authentic.” Needless to say, there was an awkward conversation with his teachers once they saw his anatomically correct sketch.

These everyday examples show that everybody has moments they wish had never happened, but if your favorite teachers can get past them, so can you. Even the most responsible adults have things from childhood that they are not proud of, but like Rapsinksi and Cressman, we should all see them as something to laugh about years down the line.