Sippin’ Tea with D

Mr. Scott Dion is one of South Hadley High School’s very own staff members. He often goes unnoticed through his position as a special education teacher. But he knows a lot of the students through co-teaching and how the students he has talk about other students. We took the time to interview him on how he felt about various topics. Today we will cover three of those.

One of the first major topics asked was about Covid. As everyone knows, Covid has affected all of us, but no one more than teachers and workers. Teachers had to continue their jobs throughout the pandemic, in person and remote. They put themselves and their families in danger of getting Covid to keep teaching their students. Dion had said that Covid had affected maturity rates for the students. That sophomores especially would normally become more mature, but remote learning had created an environment that was rife with cheating and slacking off, and the sophomores act more like freshmen than they should. But despite this, and despite the pandemic being harsh on people, Dion states that we should all move forward. There isn’t much else we can do now. People can get the vaccine if they want, but Covid will always be around now. There’s only forward to go. His ending remark on this topic was something that will resonate with many of us. “Covid is 5 years of my life that I’ll never get back due to the aftershocks to come.”

Another huge thing, while less local, was also discussed. The Ukraine War has been the talk of the last couple months, with gas prices rising and concern for the Ukrainian people following suit. When asked about this, Dion told us that the war has been making no sense. That Putin’s reasoning for starting this war was barely there to begin with. While it could be to expand trade, Russia can use other ways to do that. There’s also the possibility of it being started and followed through because of the prime flat land that Ukraine has, that other armies have traveled through to Russia in the past, but Dion doesn’t believe that’s the case considering wars have been being fought with much more than foot soldiers. But the president of Ukraine has been taking this war in stride, nevertheless, and they’ve been “fighting the good fight” and should keep it up. With America sending more military supplies to Ukraine, he hopes that soon the war will end in favor of Ukraine.

Transferring to a more close to home setting, we also brought up the tragedy of the Plains School principal’s recent passing. Dion found the situation saddening, despite only meeting him once or twice. Principal Hank Skala had always been nice to talk to and would converse with anyone. Dion said he must’ve been really sick at first, with Skala wanting to retire. But he came back nonetheless and remained the Plains’ principal until his passing. It must have been sudden, Dion said. Upon a closer talk about death and its effects, Dion stated that yes, Plains students should have gotten the day off like they did. Kids shouldn’t treat death like it’s nothing, because in the future, when death is brought up closer to a child’s life, they need to know how to cope and deal with it, and through the grief and tragedy of the principal’s passing, maybe kids can start with that.

To end on a lighter note, we asked Dion about a topic that’s both old and ongoing. Eminem Vs Machine Gun Kelly. This feud between the two started in 2012, when MGK posted about Eminem’s daughter, sexaulizing her. While the more active parts of this competition of sorts are over and done with, the actions that specifically MGK made through that persist throughout the present day. MGK had tried to hop aboard someone famous’ success, and Dion stated that that made him weak, unable to make himself famous through his own means and talents. MGK does this again by marrying Megan Fox, leaching off her success. The ring, as well, Dion says, is like a medieval chastity device that he doesn’t approve of. Dion is also a proud supporter of Eminem and not just because “Platinum Hair Era Eminem is H-A-W-T.”