Mr. Cirilli is a teacher in the history department at Wheeling Park High School. He teaches AP and CP Psychology and AP World History, and he has been teaching for 16 years, 11 of which have been at Wheeling Park. “I honestly like teaching at Park better than my first school. It’s a lot closer to the Pittsburgh area, where I grew up, and it’s been a lot of fun teaching AP and now CP courses. They’re both a lot of fun,” said Mr. Cirilli.

Teaching both history and psychology comes from prior knowledge and interest in both topics. “History is something I’ve always had an interest in. I have a master’s degree in history, and even as a child, I was always drawn to the subject. Psychology was kind of a newer thing. I took AP Psychology when I was in school, and I liked it a lot,” said Mr. Cirilli.

While Mr. Cirilli teaches both classes, they are completely different from each other. “AP and CP Psychology is about a lot more things you use in the day-to-day, like understanding how people behave and why they behave. History is interesting because I enjoy learning about how people lived in the past, so they’re very different,” said Mr. Cirilli.

Aidan Forgét, a Sports, Exercise, and Performance Psychology major at West Virginia University, took Mr. Cirilli’s AP Psychology class at Wheeling Park High School. “Yes, I had an interest in going into the psychology field before taking his class, but it wasn’t until after I took his class that I was exposed to all the theories and concepts of psychology. Some of the stuff we talked about in class, I use in my college courses,” said Aidan Forgét.

Since Mr. Cirilli teaches AP and CP Psychology, the recent changes in the stigma around mental health have changed the way he teaches psychology. “I think it’s made it easier because students have a little bit more of a basis in it, like they actually understand it more when they come into the class. They might have experience hearing about it, and it makes it easier because in the past, there was a little bit more of a stigma around it, so I think having more conversations about it makes it seem more relevant and easier to connect with our students. In that way, it’s been helpful,” said Mr. Cirilli.

Mr. Cirilli loves doing what he does, and his favorite part of teaching is when he notices the students care about what he is teaching. “The times that they (students) express gratitude or that they give you a small letter, they were sort of telling you that you made a difference in some way. A lot of times, you don’t hear that kind of thing, so when you get acknowledged, it’s quite nice. Not because I want to be on a pedestal, but because I want to make a difference for my students, and it’s nice when you know that you did,” said Mr. Cirilli.

You can see that he truly cares for his students in the way that he teaches them. “What I like most about his teaching is how he provides examples, is thorough in his lessons, and will always go over assignments to bridge any gaps in the learning process,” said junior, Keira Regal.

For his 11 years at Wheeling Park High School, you can see Mr. Cirilli’s impact. He has improved the knowledge of his students and even had some of his students go on to bigger and better things in the psychology field.