Mr. Rampolla came to St. Robert in January of 2022. After filling in as a long term sub,  and experiencing the way St. Robert worked, Mr. Rampolla decided it was his calling to teach the students at St. Robert.  He hopes when the students leave the school, they can understand the world a bit better due to his Science classes and influence. While he has been here, he has managed to make friends with all of the middle school teachers and aides, as well as form some fantastic memories with his classes. The students of middle school have adapted to his chill way of teaching and laid back attitude. Most enjoy the fun activities and slideshows he presents.

When Mr. Rampolla came to St. Robert, he was over the moon about finding a position teaching science midway through the year. He not only made new projects as a long term substitute, but also edited other existing projects so his students could do and learn more. One new project that he has introduced to middle schoolers is the dissection of  cow lungs. Also, his love for nature shines brightly even during class when he will take kids out for trash walks, which includes walking around the St. Robert grounds with trash bags and gloves, finding fun ways to inspire kids to help clean our Earth. Even at a young age Mr. Rampolla knew, “If I [wasn’t working here at St. Robert] I would be working with kids in some other way.” He does lots of physical experiments  in class, and “I sometimes wish we had time for more,” exclaimed Mr. Rampolla. One of Mr. Rampolla’s favorite project was working with replicas of cities with his eighth grade class. 

The students have been delighted to be learning from Mr. Rampolla as he is always so willing to have fun classes by including puzzles of the day, new rules, and new projects! “He’s really nice, laid back, and super chill. He’s also not super strict and really easy going,” exclaims seventh grader Katherine. Mr. Rampolla continues to surprise the students with new experiments, class discussions, and more. After interviewing one of Mr. Rampolla’s former students about her last project of the year she said, “Yeah, it was so fun and a great way to learn about city problems and great ways to fix them.” Not only did ninth grader Dempsey exclaim how much she enjoyed that project, but she also argued “he had great lesson plans that produced a great year.”

In conclusion, not only did he make a great addition to our St. Robert middle school staff, but also all of the students love his exciting way of teaching.Since he was young, he knew that he would want to help kids who are to shape this world’s future. Mr. Rampolla continues to surprise the students each day and intrigues the curiosity of students throughout class time. Mr. Rampolla will continue to surprise students  with incredibly delightful activities and influence them every day.  The St. Robert community is so thankful for all Mr. Rampolla has done in the short time he has been at the school.