Christina Atkinson

Mr.Manari

Mr. Manari is one of the quirkiest, funniest additions to the NT staff roll. With a Masters in Fine Arts from NYU, he pursued a career in marketing, while volunteering and writing on the side. His distinctions include a rare internship at the celebrated New Yorker magazine, which he completed when living in NYC.  In Toronto, he was the Communications Manager for a large architecture firm, and a PR rep for a boutique entertainment PR agency.  Mr. Manari also made use of his talent with words by having some of his original work published in literary journals in Canada and the US.  He is also incredibly passionate about his volunteer work with LGBTQ youth through MyGSA.ca and the Triangle Program. Besides his well-rounded roster of volunteering, educating, marketing, and writing, he also adores traveling. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Manari, come to the debate team meetings Thursdays at lunch in room 221 to soak up his exuberant experiences.

Ahron Seeman

Mr.Chan

Our new Economics and Business teacher has brought one question to the mind of many confused NT students and staff: Isn’t Dr. Chan the head of the Math Department? When informed that our new economics teacher, although fiercely educated, is in fact not a doctor, NT responds with yet another question: Well doesn’t Mr. Chen already teach math here? If you are already thoroughly bewildered trying to differentiate Mr. Chen and Dr. Chan, please brace yourself as we welcome Mr. Chan to the North Toronto Staff Team. Well, what sets Mr. Chan apart, you might ask. Luckily, lots. Among his favourite pastimes are badminton, volleyball, lesson planning and partying, which makes obvious sense – economics is always a party. Don’t worry though, he knows what he’s saying. He graduated in the top 5% of his undergraduate class at Carlton and received a Masters degree in economics from UofT.  Mr. Chan is excited to join us here for his first teaching job, but he has one question for NT students: “Why do you leave class to go to the bathroom so much?” Perhaps it’s habit. Anyone can imagine how difficult it must be to take over for the teaching legend Mr. Kruzynsky, but I think Mr. Chan is up for the challenge.

Emily Dyer

Ms. Doucet

Ms. Doucet is the new Canadian History and West and the World teacher at North Toronto this year. The last school she taught at was Avondale Alternative Secondary School, near the Sheppard Subway Station.

Because Ms. Doucet is a history teacher, I asked her a few questions about her favorite moments and figures in history.

If Ms. Doucet had a time machine, she would visit Socrates’ Greece. Ms. Doucet does not have a time machine, though, so the last place she travelled was not Ancient Greece, but New Brunswick. 

In addition, if she could have a dinner party with 5 historical figures, she would invite former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, education reformer Adelaide Hoodless, Greek philosopher Socrates (notice a pattern?), Ancient Greek King Alexander the Great, and Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Now that would be an interesting meal!

And just as a bonus, I asked one more question: if you had a superpower, what would it be? Her answer: invisibility, so she can sneak up on students.

 Anna Crombie

Ms. Ciarrocchi

Ms. Ciarrocchi teaches economics and careers this year at North Toronto. She recently transferred from Leaside High School and prior to that she taught at Birchmount Collegiate. She was looking forward to working at North Toronto because she had heard good things about the school and now that she is here she says she loves the “buzz” the school has due to the positive attitude of all the students and staff and the school’s fun environment. Ms. Ciarrocchi attended high school at Cardinal Carder Academy for the Arts, studying strings and vocals. Today, if Ms. Ciarrocchi wasn’t teaching economics, she would be teaching yoga. In January of 2011 she moved to India to study yoga for several months and is now a certified yoga instructor. Ms. Ciarrocchi is head of the wellness club at North Toronto this year and is looking forward to bringing wellness to North Toronto throughout the year!

 Chloe Li

Ms. Policarpo

While most of us consider a trip to France exotic, new NT math teacher Ms. Policarpo wouldn’t agree. She spent her summer trekking in Thailand. Her adventurous spirit lives on in Canada, too—she loves to read, and she especially loves to read about new ventures in science in the Science Daily News. “Science journals are like the Globe and Mail for me,” she adds. She loves lemon sorbet, The Notebook, and, the school spirit at North Toronto. “Everyone’s so friendly and spirited here! I love that just being in the same physical space is enough for everyone to feel school spirit,” she says, with a big smile.

And her one complaint about NT? “…Well, the math department could think about an espresso machine,” she suggests jokingly. But this writer thinks her smile reveals that she already loves NT as much as we do, espresso machine or no.