After a tough battle with cancer, Phil Trovato is back in room 110 ready to tackle another school year.

Mr. Trovato’s favorite part about being back at school is his students. He says he didn’t expect to miss talking with the students of Totino-Grace High School nearly as much as he did. He says, “They are my favorite people to talk with about everything.” It only takes a few minutes to watch him interact with students to see how much he loves TG and TG loves him. 

He expressed that he thought that the hardest part of being back would be the mental side of things, as is common for big transitions like this. But he found this to be the easy part. 

For Mr. Trovato, after a month of teaching, the hardest part of transitioning is adjusting physically. After a year of heaps of physical strain, his body is still adjusting to working all week. 

Even though he finds it difficult to stay energized throughout the day and he “goes to bed a lot earlier,” he still wouldn’t rather be back at home. 

Everything else feels the same to him. He didn’t skip a beat returning to teaching. 

If Mr. Travoto could tell 2021 Phil Trovato anything, it would be “Appreciate every minute you get with your kids.” Unsurprisingly, his love for his family shines through here. The only thing he misses from last year is how much time he got to spend with his kids. He is extremely grateful for all the time he got with them.

Mr. Trovato almost took this year off. It was considered, but he would rather try to see if he could come back to work and feel like he could have done it. His dedication to teaching is inspiring. 

As many have noticed, he is back for this year with some new ink. 

In Italian and written on his forearms are two messages that clearly reflect his mindset from the last year. One read “everything passes” and the other, “don’t ever give up.” 

Mr. Trovato’s love for the senior class shows. His favorite part of the year is the second semester. He loves watching the seniors as they prepare for the rest of their lives. 

The entire TG body is ecstatic about his return and glad to have many more years with him at Totino-Grace.