Have you ever had a moment when you were zoning out in class listening to your teacher talk, and then wonder, what is my teacher like outside of school? One of those  teachers might be Ms. Staropoli. I had Ms. Staropoli for freshman English and I knew she had much more to her life than grading papers. I interviewed Ms. Staropoli on September 13. One thing she had heard a lot in her life growing up was, “You’re either perfect or don’t bother.” Growing up, Ms. Staropoli had a hard time believing in herself. She comes from a long line of musicians, or as you could say, “overachievers.” Throughout her whole life, people told her what she could and couldn’t do; this is when Ms. Staropoli started to believe it as well. Since she didn’t meet her parents’ standards of “perfect” she assumed she fell into the category of “sucked.” When she wanted to try something new, she had a thought in the back of her head saying, “No, you know you can’t do that.” One of those many thoughts in her brain happened to be quilting. Although she believed she would never be able to quilt, one day she said “screw it” to those thoughts in the back of her head.

      Ms. Staropoli grew a passion for quilting and was so excited that she was actually able to do it, even though she thought she would never be able to. Ms. Staropoli told me this story about when she first started quilting. She didn’t know much at the time, but she learned how to make table runners. She was so excited. She made many different ones in different colors and gave them out to family and friends. This became her hobby. When I was interviewing Ms. Staropoli, she said to me, “Quilting taught me that I don’t have to be perfect.” Just by listening to her gut and knowing she could do this, she learned much more about herself than knowing she could quilt. Quilting changed her in many ways, and she continues to create beautiful quilts for her and her family to enjoy. 

Junior Ally Keefe is a staff writer for the 2021-2022 yearbook. She is a dedicated cat and fish mom!! She enjoys spending all her money on things she doesn’t need. And when she is not working, she is with her besties!!