This week, the Oracle spoke to Mr. Tony Sarkis- one of our beloved English teachers. Mr. Sarkis teaches English 12 and People Skills and keeps all student and staff entertained throughout the long school day.

Q: How long have you been teaching?

A:  “I started in August of 1995. This is my 30th year.”

Q: Why did you decide English was the path you wanted to take? 

A: “It was a toss up between social studies and English, because I love history.  I realized that teaching literature, if you don’t understand what’s going on in the world at the time, the piece of literature you’re studying is history. So I get to teach both, is what I’m saying in English. 
I get to teach a little bit about what’s going on in the world, then I get to teach the literature.”

Q: What is your favorite class to teach?

A: “American Literature and English literature. Those are my two favorites. 
Not honors, just the regular classes, that’s what does it for me.”

Q: What was your first car?

A: “1983 or 1982 Delta 88, it had rolled down windows.”

Q: Where did you go to college?

A: “I started off at Clarion University, then I transferred to La Roche, and I got my undergraduate degree there. Then I got my postgraduate degree at Duquesne.”

Q: What were your high school years like?

A: “High school was fantastic. I made the most of it. I was the only one of five that went to North Catholic, and it was my decision to do that.  I got a lot of support from my dad and my family, and I had a lot of fun there.”

Q: How was college?

A: “College was just as good. 
It was too good for the first year at Clarion. That’s why I had to get out of there.”

Q: How long do you think you would last in a zombie apocalypse? How would you die in it?

A: “I wouldn’t die in a zombie apocalypse, I can handle them. I deal with seniors and juniors at 7 in the morning, I can handle zombies. 
I’ve been doing it for 30 years now.”

Q: What is your favorite student slang and can you use it in a sentence? 

A: “You’re sick.
My tattoo was described as sick one time, and I thought that was kind of cool. Sarkis’s tattoo is sick.”

Q:  If you could be any spirit animal in the world, what would it be and why?

A: “It would be a shark. 
They like warm water beaches. They have no known enemies, and pretty much all they do is swim and eat and make little sharks.”

Q: If you could be any real person dead or alive, who would you be? 

A: “Frank Sinatra. He had a pretty good life. He was a pretty decent guy and was very talented. 
He had a lot of opportunities.”

Q: What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?

A: Jimmy Buffett. Take your pick of a year. I used to go to every Buffett concert every year, and I would dress up as a pirate. I got into it.”