Mr. Ciocco is in his third year of teaching at BHS. Coming from a Latin and Ancient Greek History background, Mr. Ciocco is teaching five different courses this year at BHS.

Not knowing what profession he wanted to go into, Mr. Ciocco ended up taking an ancient history class when attending college at Rutgers. After falling in love with the subject, he knew he wanted to go into an ancient history profession— eventually deciding on teaching— and followed this path until he got his masters degree and began teaching Latin courses at a private school. 

Mr. Ciocco never planned on being a teacher but has voiced how great of a decision it has been. “It’s so much fun,” he says, “and I love sharing the things I’m passionate about.” He says he doesn’t quite know how it happened, but he loves the profession and where he ended up. 

Mr. Ciocco teaches Latin I through IV, as well as a new AP Latin course, which has just been introduced for the 2023-2024 school year. “I had a lot of really great students in Latin IV last year, and they worked really hard and decided they wanted to continue in my class,” he says. 

Justin Kutakoff, a senior at BHS in his fifth year of Latin, says that Mr. Ciocco is by far his favorite class. “I love Mr. Ciocco,” Justin said. “He’s the only reason I’m still taking Latin because he’s such a great teacher.”

The BHS community has come to love and respect our Latin teacher, with students across grades raving about his teaching. Grace Danza, a senior in Latin IV who has taken Latin since Mr. Ciocco’s BHS start, says that Mr. Ciocco has attributed to her enjoyment of her school career, consistently providing her support through her school years. “He’s such an easy teacher to talk to,” Grace says, “He sounds like a friend, but you can get work done at the same time. He makes the environment at school less stressful.”

Mr. Ciocco’s favorite part of work is the BHS community and all of his students and faculty friends. “Everyone is so supportive, and it makes me happy to come to work everyday.”