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01/18/2017 07:00 AMWhile Tony Vaspasiano has spent more than two decades teaching, he didn’t always know that would be his path. After getting a degree in sociology, he worked in retail, heavy construction, and then in the chemical industry before his job was outsourced to another country.
During those transitions, Tony and his wife Nadine started a family, having two children. Tony began coaching his son in baseball and something clicked.
“I was coaching baseball for my son and seeing how they were reacting to what I was teaching,” says Tony, who began his certification courses in teaching. “Once I started as a sub while going to school, I said, ‘This is it for me.’ This is where my calling was.”
Tony, who has lived in East Haven since he was 16, did his student teaching at East Haven High School (EHHS) and after earning his degree, he was hired as a social studies teacher at the school. He has now been there for 23 years.
As a new teacher, Tony looked for different ways to make connections with the students. He heard about Students Against Destructive Decisions (then called Students Against Drunk Driving) and began helping the advisor with the club.
“I worked with him until he retired and then I took over as advisor,” says Tony, who now has two grandchildren, ages 5 and 3. “Two other teachers were working with me at the time, but they also have retired and now I’ve been the advisor for 20 years.”
The group has always been one of the biggest extra-curricular activities at EHHS and Tony has seen it grow, not only in numbers, but in its impact as well over the years. In recent years, SADD has taken over hosting the pep rallies and just this year, it began reaching even younger students.
“As part of her Capstone Project, one of my students expanded SADD into the middle school,” says Tony, who emphasizes the role students play. “I’m just the advisor and that’s all I do—I give them advice. They come up with the ideas and I guide them, but the run the programs themselves.”
SADD has held a number of different programs over the years, bringing in speakers on different topics and holding different events like talent shows and fashion shows. For the past three years, SADD has hosted the Harlem Wizards basketball game as a fundraiser for the club. The club also organizes pledges for the students.
“It’s growing as far as activities and making other students aware,” says Tony. “They have had the student body make a pledge not to drink and drive on prom or to be aware of not doing drugs.”
Among the many things Tony has been involved with through the club, there is one that stands out and makes an impact every time it’s held: the mock car crash. Just before prom season, SADD teams up with the East Haven Fire Department, American Medical Response, and the East Haven Funeral Home to give students a glimpse at the devastation that drinking and driving can cause.
“The entire student body comes out and there’s a scene where they’re been a car crash,” says Tony. “They take the tarp off the car and the scene begins. The ambulance comes and the police department; the driver is arrested. One or two students will die and are taken away in body bags. You won’t hear a pin drop. You’ll see tears and hear comments like, ‘I’ll never do that or get in a car with someone who’s drinking.’ It does have an impact. Year after year, they say it’s the best event. I get emotional when I see the students at that event.”
To go along with the mock car crash, a White Out Day is held. The grim reaper “kills” a student every 53 minutes, symbolizing how often someone in the country is killed by an impaired driver. Once the student is “killed,” their face is painted white and they cannot speak.
“They see what the world is like without them,” says Tony. “Around them, those people are seeing what it’s like when that person is not there.”
This year, the EHHS SADD group has more than 80 members. Tony split the group into three teams and each team has a set of leaders. He not only enjoys seeing what the students learn from the lessons SADD teaches on destructive decisions, but also what they learn from being in the club.
“It’s not just drinking and driving, but destructive decisions in general and how the decisions you make not only affect you, but others around you,” says Tony. “One of the most gratifying thing is seeing the students prepare for the future out of high school and teaching them life skills. Academics are important, but it’s like a hidden curriculum on how to relate to other people, do presentations, and more.”