Traveling provides an outlet for people to explore the different and diverse cultures around their world. Visiting different countries also allows people to learn about the country’s history and traditions, as well as learn the language and become immersed in the culture. Through immersing himself in Spanish, French, and Latin language and culture, John McCluskey found himself wanting to teach future generations the fundamentals of these languages.

At the start of the 2018-2019 school year, McCluskey joined the Foreign Language Department as a Latin and French teacher. Before graduating from the University of Chicago, McCluskey studied abroad. He has visited many countries, but his favorite place to go on a trip to is Rome.

“I love the culture, I love the food culture, particularly the Italian habit of having an after work snack and drink before a late dinner. I like the pace of life in Rome. I like the fresh produce,” McCluskey said.

McCluskey grew up in Iowa and gained an interest in language through his best friend that spoke Spanish at home. McCluskey learned the fundamentals of the Spanish language in high school, but had a better grasp of Latin culture through his friend.

“Growing up in my hometown in Iowa, surprisingly enough, my best friend spoke Spanish at home and so I learned Spanish from the beginning of high school, outside of school. I studied Spanish also in college along with French and Latin,” McCluskey said.

After college and through a little bit of grad school, McCluskey decided not to pursue his original plan of getting a PhD in history. Instead, he became a teacher at a Catholic school in Chicago. There he taught Spanish, Latin, and history. After teaching in Illinois, McCluskey moved out east to become a teacher here at Walpole High. He chose Walpole because he felt it was the best fit for him and had the opportunity that he was looking for. McCluskey enjoys teaching because he likes to interact with others.

“The best part of my job is the social component of my job-working with people everyday, having fun with other people. Working with young people is fun because they’re less reserved. Sometimes adults take a while to warm up to, [whereas] younger people usually are really generous and warm up really quickly.”

McCluskey’s teaching style is well-liked by his students as his energy in classroom is found engaging by most of his students.

“[McCluskey] makes his class fun everyday by teaching with enthusiasm,” said sophomore Kevin McElaney, one of McCluskey’s Latin students.

Part of what makes McCluskey a popular teacher is the empathy and compassion that he shows to his students. He cares about having them be attentive and happy in his class to maximize their learning experience, as well as to make sure that they enjoy life.

“If someone might be having a bad day or a bad week or whatever period of time and they’re bringing negative energy to school, then that can be hard for teachers sometimes because we’re not people that try to push people away. We try to bring people in, and so that means trying to understand where the negative energy is coming from and that can be tough to assume that burden once in a while.”

McCluskey teaches with enthusiasm and compassion so that his students enjoy what they learn. Using his experiences and knowledge with traveling and languages, McCluskey is able to teach his students how to relate to other cultures. He hopes to have some kind of impact on how his students view learning languages and learning as a whole, and hopes that they will be able to expand on the information they learn in school, outside of school.

“All of [the foreign language department] would love it if you guys walked away from our classes into outside of high school and decided ‘hey, I liked that experience I had with languages in high school, I’m going to do that with my life’. That’s our dream; when you guys decide to do something like that.”