Mr. Oddo has been a beloved teacher at Warren Township High school for the past 28 years. He is known around the school for his contagious happiness and determinedness to become better each day. No matter if it was teaching ceramics, art, or even coaching track or football, Mr. Oddo has given it his all. His dedication to his students and most of all, his family is unmatched.
When asking Mr. Oddo about his favorite memories from WTHS his #1 answer was meeting his wife. He started off with, “I met my wife at WTHS, she used to teach English here! We met at a faculty trip to a Cubs game.”
After this, Mr. Oddo and his wife were married and now have 2 kids that will both attend Warren. He had the opportunity to work in the very same building as his son this past year!
Mr. Oddo has always taken a lot of pride in his efforts as a coach. Most of his favorite memories relate back to track and field. He is beyond to grateful to have had the opportunity of coaching his son AJ. Oddo said, “As teachers and coaches we understand that we have to sacrifice so much family time to do this job right. So it was an extremely gratifying moment to coach my son AJ in Track & Field and hand him his award at the banquet! A full circle moment”.
In addition to his family, lots of favorite memories have been made with students and staff. As much as his students love him, he loves them back just the same if not more, “There are so many great things about Warren. But the students for the past 28 years have been the reason I am excited to come to work each day. Then the great staff at WTHS! Great people great friends that are really like family to me”
The impact he has made on many different ceramics students is astonishing. I for one had Mr. Oddo as my teacher the past 2 years and he has never failed to support me and give me honest feedback to improve. After talking to many different independent study students it is clear how effective Mr. Oddo’s teaching is. A few of his many award winning students wrote about the impacts of his teaching.
To start, Jane Kelly (known around the school for wrestling, track, and her amazing achievements in ceramics) described Mr. Oddo as, “one of the most influential and impactful teachers {she has} ever had. {She has} been able to flourish more under his guidance and growth-centered attitude”. Of course Jane also mentioned the famous meatballs that Mr. Oddo makes, “{She will} always cherish {their} laughs together, but especially his meatballs”.
Sophie Dolinar won an award at the most recent Live Arts for her creation in Mr. Oddo’s class. He taught her, “How to build and throw with clay and {she} has come so far in his class”. Sophie began taking ceramics in her junior year of high school. He has always been there supporting her as well as teaching her how to fix mistakes instead of trashing a piece. “Overall, Mr. Oddo is probably one of my favorite teachers I have ever had at Warren, he helped me grow as a student and an artist so much”.
After retirement, Mr. Oddo is, “eager to start focusing on taking care of myself,my health especially. Like many teachers I don’t have much gas in the tank after teaching 8 hours and coaching 2-3 more….so my exercise is random. Fit Nation and Bittersweet here I come”.
In the end of these 28 years, Mr. Oddo will be extremely missed and appreciated by the art and sports communities at WTHS. We all wish him the very best retirement and sincerely hope that he comes back for Live Arts and all other shenanigans that occur at Warren.
