Semper ad Meliora.

We have a new face here at BASD high school, and she comes to us from Central Catholic, an all-boys school in Pittsburgh where she taught for two and a half years. Her name is Tori Abbondanza, and she is our new Latin teacher.

Ms. Abbondanza lives in McCandless. She attended high school at North Allegheny and furthered her education at Duquesne University.

At Duquesne, she worked through a double major of Latin education and Classical Latin.

Ms. Abbondanza came to BASD February 25 to replace Mr. Monahan who resigned in January. She felt the switch of jobs would be a more beneficial career move—despite the 45 minute commute to work every morning.

Ms. Abbondanza says that she’s come to love the school very quickly due to the acceptance from the students she has experienced throughout the day.

“I’m really excited to be here and can’t wait to see how everything goes,” Ms. Abbondanza said.

She has a passion for the Latin language, especially its technical ways and grammar. She hopes to continued to grow the BASD Latin program and teach the classes in a way that not only helps the students but also makes the program enjoyable.

Contrary to public assumptions about teachers, Ms. Abbondanza has hobbies outside of her teaching. Ms. Abbondanza enjoys photography, dancing, and lifting.

And it seems as if her students are just positive about Ms. Abbondanza.

“I’m excited to learn more about the language and Ms. Abbondanza,” said sophomore Latin II student Anna Blum.