Ever wondered who went to Toll Gate and how different the school is from how it was when they went here? In this article you will find out exactly that! There are a surprising number of faculty and staff members who attended Toll Gate High School when they were teens. I interviewed nine such faculty and staff members who were students at Toll Gate back in the day. Below you will find some of the questions they all were asked regarding their experiences here, both past and present.
“Did you always want to become a teacher?”
Ms Silvestre – “I wanted to be a physical therapist.”
Mrs Theriault – “I wanted to be a vet. But, after I got to college I wanted to teach.”
Mr Spaziano – “I wanted to be a carpenter. But, I wanted to coach football too.”
Mrs May – “I wanted to become a psychologist.”
Mrs Bears – “ I Wanted to be an English teacher first, but then became a guidance counselor.”
Mrs Carlson – “I wanted to become a psychologist.”
Mrs Wilkinson – “Originally, I wanted to major in nutrition. But, then I changed my mind in college and ended up majoring in finance and ended up working in banking for almost 10 years. I was a business teacher at Toll Gate and then went to school again to do guidance. Just because you pick one career doesn’t mean you have to stick with it.”
Ms Noren – “I was pre-med until my senior year of college but later found out I hated hospitals. Then I did an internship at the Urban League and worked with students in their summer high school enrichment program. From there, I decided to get my master’s in teaching.”
“Was Toll Gate your first choice for teaching?”
Mrs Silvestre – “Yes, I came back because it was close to home and starting a new career somewhere you already knew was good. I wanted to come back here as well because my math teachers inspired me during my senior year.”
Mrs Theriault – “I grew up here. Pilgrim was my first choice though. I was very familiar with the people here because of long term subbing.”
Mr Spaziano – “Yes, I liked the kids and the environment.”
Mrs Bears – “Toll Gate was my first choice. It is different here though due to CTC and all the new programs.”
Mrs Carlson – “Toll Gate was my first choice. I knew a lot of people here already and it was close to home. “
Mrs Noren – “I was lucky enough to be on the carousel of consolidation in 2014 and 2016. I have worked at Warwick Veterans Memorial High School, Gorton Junior High, and Toll Gate.”
Mrs Wilkinson – “When I got a job offer for a teaching position for business, I was excited to come back to Toll Gate.”
“Did you like attending Toll Gate?”
Every teacher replied “yes” except for Mrs Carlson who said “it was alright, a normal high school experience.”
“Is there a Difference from the school how it was to how it is now?”
When noticing the differences of how the school is now, multiple teachers and staff had the same answers. They pointed out the differences in how much technology was used before and how it is used now. The school used to have no advisory period and you had one classroom which meant you saw the same people everyday and would end up graduating with them. People also used to have “cliques” where they would hang out in certain areas and that would be a symbol for what group they belonged to (ex: cheerleaders, jocks, band etc). The major difference between how school was back then is the addition of the CTC program. Payphones used to be used to make a phone call inside the office. The computers they had were very old and retro but were what they had to work with given the time period.
