English as a second language teacher Kevin Trotta’s office is a small room on the left side of the library. Tables and seats fill the room in chaotic clusters. The walls are painted a shade of bright, kind-on-the-eyes type of green. A drawer in his desk is filled with sweets, mainly Oreos. Altogether, the room feels cozy.

Trotta decided to be a teacher his senior year of high school, and did a lot of volunteering that year to prepare for it. Trotta taught in elementary education and middle school for ten years, before finally ending up at FHS this year. 

Trotta assists freshmen cohort teachers Carrie Ray, Lynn Burger, and Erin Samouelion in their classrooms as a co-teacher with English language learners. 

“I get to know more students that way,” Trotta said. “I don’t feel like I’m working. I feel like I’m having fun.”

His favorite teacher is his 2nd grade teacher whose nickname for Trotta was “Terrific Trotta.”  

“I don’t remember anything she taught, but I remember how she made me feel,” Trotta said.

Trotta has adjusted the way he teaches throughout his 12-year teaching career, and he’s learned a lot from it.

“I’ve learned the importance of building positive relationships, and the importance of patience and empathy,” Trotta said. 

He spent his childhood in Michigan, and attended Oakland University. In five years, Trotta hopes he’s still coming to work at FHS.

“I hope that I’m still feeling like coming to work doesn’t feel like a job at all, that I’m still having fun,” Trotta said. “And that I’m continuing to make a positive impact on the community of Farmington.”