Always with a smile on his face, fist-bumping us as we walked into class, and excited to show us our new project for the day —that was Mr. Steranko, and that’s how we’ll remember him: by his undeniable and loving positivity. 

   Mr. Steranko was my digital design teacher during my sophomore year (about 2 years ago), but he retired last year after more than 35 years of teaching. But suddenly, at the beginning of August, he passed away. This news came with both devastation and shock to those who knew him. For those who didn’t know him, he was a digital design teacher whose home was the old building 7, where graphic design, aviation, and automotive classes used to be held. Now, it’s a new athletic facility, “The Frank Barbieri Building” here at West Boca. 

   His love and admiration for his craft had a great impact on us. My peers and his former students all recollected similar memories about Mr. Steranko. “He always provided us with a fun and comforting teaching environment”, “Mr. Steranko was a nice and fun teacher who will be missed”, “He was an amazing, sweet, person and teacher who I learned a lot from and will miss him very much”, “He always made sure his students were happy, and enjoying his class”. Despite the fact that Mr. Steranko was a very reserved man, we always felt his kindness, caring nature, and dedication. 

   Although Mr. Steranko had his old-school style, it taught us a lot about the important foundations of art design. We would create designs on mugs, make our own notepads, stickers, pins, and much more. His class was the hands-on side of design, where we used to have a blast experimenting with spray paint, photography, and utilizing the industrial machinery provided for graphic design.  

   Mr. Staranko was an accomplished mechanic and was an expert in making things from scratch, such as motorized bikes. Once, he even fixed up all the golf carts used here at school. Mr. Steranko learned some of his workshop skills when He studied graphic arts at California University of Pennsylvania, which he attended many years ago with our very own technical design teacher, Mr. Hellyer. 

   My friends and I learned a lot and had lots of fun in his class. “You guys sound good, great song choice!” he used to say to my friends and me every class, when we would sing together while working on a project, Mr. Stranky loved our singing! That’s what my friend and I  used to call him, and every day he used to call us “Doc”, we never really knew why, but it was always “Good morning, Doctor!”, “Good job, Doc,” along with his customary fist-bump.  

   We appreciate Mr. Steranko’s devotion to his students and the school, and appreciate the kind person he was and will always be, in our hearts. 

   Thanks for everything, Mr. Steranko. You will be missed.