Mrs. Patricia Telles and Mrs. Daphane Mitropoulos are special education teachers at Glendale High School, and they are both from Glendale, California. They graduated from GHS in 2002, and were recently class advisors for the Class of 2021.
Growing up, Mrs. Telles went to Roosevelt Middle School, while Mrs. Mitropoulos went to Wilson Middle School. For college, they both first went to Glendale Community College, and then Mrs. Telles attended Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, and got her Master’s degree in Special Education at Cal State LA. Mrs. Mitropoulos transferred to Cal State Northridge and got her Master’s degree in Special Education at UC Irvine.
Before coming back to GHS as teachers, Mrs. Mitropoulos says that her first teaching experience was at Monsenor Oscar Romero Charter School in Los Angeles, where she taught physical science. Mrs. Telles was a swim instructor at College View School, and she also taught as a substitute teacher in various schools around the Glendale Unified School District.
During their time as GHS students, Mrs. Telles and Mrs. Mitropoulos expressed that they had a lot of fun here. Mrs. Telles was a part of the water polo and swim teams, she was also involved in ASB, and other clubs. Mrs. Mitropoulos was a part of the softball team and she also joined a few clubs at school.
One of their favorite memories together was “coming to school late [during] first period”. She jokes about how their English teacher would always say, “Here comes the Patty and Daphane Show”, every time they would walk into class.
One thing that Mrs. Mitropoulos believes has changed at GHS is the food provided on our campus. When they were students here, they were able to buy sodas, and there weren’t as many food restrictions as there are today. Technology also wasn’t a huge part of their daily lives in high school, unlike how we use Chromebooks in our classes today.
Mrs. Telles and Mrs. Mitropoulos both decided to come back and teach at GHS because of the environment found here. Mrs. Mitropoulos expresses how she loves “working with all the different age groups” of students, and she feels like she has “a better connection with the older kids” versus the younger ones. They also express how the special education department here feels like a family to them.
Now that a majority of students and teachers are back on campus, a piece of advice that Mrs. Telles and Mrs. Mitropoulos would like to give to students, to help them get through this year, is to just “take it one day at a time” and “try their best in their classes.” They also point out that it is important for students to “reach out to any adult that they feel safe with” whenever they need help.
As far as the future is concerned, Mrs. Telles and Mrs. Mitropoulos are just trying to make the most out of this school year. They want to make sure that their students stay motivated, get organized, and pass all of their classes. Ultimately, they both hope that the world can be mask-free again and that people don’t have to worry about getting COVID-19.
