On Friday, November 22, Spanish teacher Andrea Tornese retired. Having taught at various schools throughout her career, Tornese finished as a Pirate after teaching at Cinnaminson High School for the last six years. Tornese said she plans to use her time now to focus on family, traveling, and her small business.
According to Tornese, there is no specific reason for retiring; she just feels it’s her time and wants more time with her family now that her children and parents are getting older.
“There is no specific reason. I feel like it is my time and I want to have more time to spend with my family as the kids are getting older and branching out,” Tornese said. “It’s nice to have the opportunity to go and visit and to be more available to my children and parents as they age.”
Throughout her career, Tornese has taught various classes from middle school Spanish to honors and AP Spanish.
“I have worked at Hamilton High School West, Maple Shade High School, and I also worked at Milton High School in Florida,” Tornese said. “I have worked with different students whether they were in accelerated or honors classes, and with this, I have learned a lot about different teaching styles.”
Before she became a teacher, Tornese attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick and minored in Spanish. However, she realized she enjoyed the subject and decided to major in it.
Despite only working at CHS for the past six years, Tornese said her favorite thing about working at the high school is how supportive her colleagues are and how motivated the student body is.
“My favorite thing about working here is working with an awesome department and working with great students who have always been driven and focused on their goals.”
While Tornese is retiring, it is only from teaching. She said she plans on continuing to work but in a different field. She and her husband, who is a pilot, own a side business. With her retirement from teaching, she said she wants to focus on both her family as well as her family’s side business.
“So I’m retiring from teaching but not retiring from working. We have a small business and I want to work part-time and help it keep growing,” Tornese said. “It is a flight school. My husband is a pilot so he also teaches and helps run it.”
When not working at the flight school, Tornese said she would like to explore some new hobbies in her new free time.
“Something I’ve wanted to try is to bake,” Tornese said. “It’s very time-consuming so I look forward to having more time to do that and look forward to traveling as well.”
While Tornese leaves Cinnaminson High School, she encourages students and staff to continue to try and immerse themselves in foreign languages.
“I would encourage students and staff to be brave enough to learn and use a foreign language because it can open up a lot of doors for you.”
