Athletic, charming and incredibly bright: English teacher, Mr. Sandt, describes himself as a high school student.

To many students’ astonishment, teachers were not born crying algebra equations or annotating novels. We have to keep in mind that they were teenagers once, too. Many Pascack Hills teachers, like Sandt, are a lot more like you than you’d like to think.

The Saint Joe’s graduate never really fit into a particular label. “I played sports, but wasn’t a jock. I was in honors classes, but wasn’t a top student,” Sandt said, adding that he would be a ‘jack of all trades,’ if anything.

One thing he got in trouble for? Not wearing a tie, a requirement at his alma mater. There was no time for mischief; he was involved in plenty of activities that kept him busy.

Peers would find Sandt on the soccer field as Joe’s starting Varsity goalkeeper. This was a coveted position he earned as a sophomore, over two juniors and two seniors. If not on the field, he was probably playing drums in a band, a skill that seemed to prove helpful in his soccer career; Sandt’s coach, who was also a drummer, accredited Sandt’s fearlessness and intensity in the goal, to the intensity of his drumming skills.

The ‘jack of all trades’ also ran track and participated in student government.

Sandt was even a cheerleader…for a night. To support the football team in their state championship game, Sandt and a few other students dressed up as cheerleaders in the stands. He borrowed a uniform from one of the IHA cheerleaders, a good friend of his. That cheerleader “is now my wife,” Sandt added, “so I guess I didn’t look too ridiculous!”

Sandt believes the biggest difference between high school when he was a student and today is a greater tolerance among today’s students. “A good thing,” he adds. His advice to all of us: “Happiness is the product of positive thoughts.”