East Haven native Neil Merola has begun his first year teaching at his alma mater East Haven High School (EHHS), and he certainly feels that it’s fitting to be a teacher in the community which raised him.

“A science position opened up at the high school and I said, ‘I’m definitely applying for this because I love the school district, I love the school, I love the town, the people, the kids, everything,’” says Neil. “East Haven was always my number one option.”

Neil is very familiar with the EHHS, having spent time as both a student and a paraprofessional at the school before earning a degree in secondary education science at Southern Connecticut State University. Neil will be teaching freshmen and sophomores at EHHS in integrated science and biology, respectively. In the latter subject, Neil is particularly intrigued by mycology—the study of fungus and mushrooms.

Neil says that mycology is a “huge part of biology” which is overlooked in both the educational and career spheres in Connecticut. Neil feels this is unfortunate considering that that the mushroom kingdom is absolutely vast in scope and is critical to other kingdoms involving plants and animals.

“There's millions and millions of species,” says Neil. “Without mushrooms, you don't have plants because they have a direct symbiotic relationship. They do so much as far as medicine. They’re parasites. They could evolve massively. They have underground systems and networks. There's so much that we don’t know about them, still, because it's just not as researched as other things, that if we did, we would have a much deeper understanding of Earth and medicine and why things work the way they do in the ecosystems.”

Neil is determined to write a mycology curriculum in the future to make for a more pronounced field of study and education in Connecticut.

In his integrated science course, Neil will teach freshmen students different scientific disciplines like biology and chemistry, but with a more general focus. Study will become more specific for his sophomore students in biology, focusing on genetics, evolution, ecology, and physiology. Students will start examining biology on a more difficult micro level, gradually building up to studying on the macro level, says Neil.

“The first half of biology is a lot harder because it’s a lot more theoretical. You have to have a working understanding of how things you can't see work. Then we get into evolution, which is a little more envision-able,” says Neil.

Study will become even more visible for students while focusing on ecology and the interactions of species in the surrounding ecosystem of the high school.

“We'll take kids on nature walks, have them look at plants and animals and bugs and how everything interacts,” Neil says.

While it is important for students to learn the content of their studies, what may be even more important is for them to meet the standards on education and personal development established by the Next Generation Science Standards, says Neil.

“There’s a section in them called the ‘Science and Engineering Practices,’ and that includes things like communicating information, conducting research, building a model, analyzing data,” he says. “Skills like that are extremely transferable—not just from school to a science class. It doesn’t mean you have to become a scientist,” Neil says.

Instead, through learning and doing well in biology, students will become better at organization, communication of information, research, and even persuasion. Whether they are conducting a business presentation or trying to analyze the data of a scientific article, Neil says that they will “have those skills for the rest of their lives, which will take them further than they think.”

Neil would love to see his students “develop a deeper understanding of the world around them and themselves,” as well as the sciences and, of course, learn multiple lifelong skills. He is looking to grow himself as an educator, give back to the East Haven community “that has just given me so much,” and “make a positive impact on the next generation.”

Neil wants to give it his all as both an educator and part of the coaching staff for EHHS wrestling team, which he has been a part of for five years.

“I definitely intend to keep helping out with the coaching because I love wrestling. I love my team. It's a sport that it takes a special person to do. Those kids, they're sacrificing a lot to be out there and compete in this sport. So, I want to make sure I give them my all, too,” says Neil.