Valentine: The Man Behind the Beard

By Matthew Kerrigan  Scott Valentine is an English teacher at Branford High School, his past is shrouded in mystery and few people know how he came to work at Branford High School and why. Mr. Valentine attended Seymour High School. There he did not participate in any extra curricular activities, “I was done with playing sports after playing them since I was young,” said Mr. Valentine, “I just did not want to play anymore.” Although he was absent from any extracurricular activities, he did have a rock band in high school “I wanted to be a rock god.” he exclaimed. After high school Mr. Valentine attended Southern Connecticut University where he said he had an average college experience with sports clubs, crazy parties and classes to attend. After college he worked in sales and marketing at an environmental data company. He kept this job for 11 years. Eventually Mr. Valentine got bored with his job and wanted something new, so he decided to become a teacher. “A teacher I had in high school inspired me to become  a teacher and I had always thought about teaching and decided to do it,” said Mr. Valentine. He started to attend Fairfield university part time where he said he focused on his academics more this time . After his second stint in college he became a student teacher at Trumbell High School. After a while became a long term substitute for a class called “Peace and Protest” which combined history with literature. Mr. Valentine was subbing for a very popular teacher at the time and he said the students did not seem happy at first but eventually got used to him as teacher. How Mr. Valentine became a teacher at Branford high school is quite interesting. It all happened in a span of 72 hours. It started when one of Mr. Valentine’s friend told him to send in his application. He sent it in and the next day he got a call to come in for an interview. At the interview he was bombarded with questions and could barely think after answers. That day after the interview he was told to meet with the superintendent and principal and if all when well he could have the job. Mr. Valentine also played a part in the formation of the girls’ ice hockey team. A couple of girls approached him about starting a team and being a coach. He said he would help but he could not coach. But he had a friend who wanted to coach and Mr. Valentine became an assistant. Mr. Valentine had some trouble deciding what he wanted to do as a career but finally decided to be a teacher here at Branford high school. Whether dressing up as batman for Halloween or shredding some tasty licks  in guitar club Mr. valentine is BHS.