DEFEOnitely the Best: Mr. DeFeo was named the Teacher of the Year at the April 11 pep assembly

One thousand eight hundred high school students shouting and jumping in blue-and-gray stands.

45 band members playing their instruments standing in the corner.

Six pep execs screaming “East” into microphones.

What may sound like a sensory overload to many is just another day in the life for theater teacher Tom DeFeo managing the sound system for assemblies.

DeFeo stands in the corner of the gym at assemblies manning a soundboard, just like the one on April 11. This pep assembly celebrated the end of the year, winter sports achievements and — for the first time since before COVID — the Teacher of the Year award. 

Like any event, DeFeo had a paper script in front of him at the pep assembly alerting him to the next event on the agenda such as the “Viking Chant” or school song. However, when DeFeo went to flip the page after principal Jason Peres’ speech he saw something unusual: his name.

Theater teacher Mr. DeFeo to accept Teacher of the Year award.

Thoughts flying through his head DeFeo stood in disbelief: for one of the first times he was going to be the center of attention at the pep assembly.

“I’m most commonly a behind-the-scenes person, so sure there’s adrenaline [because] I’m up front,” DeFeo said. “But to me it was an award from them to me so I wanted to share that back to them. That’s why I held the award up above my head.”

The Teacher of the Year award is given to a teacher nominated by juniors and seniors from the National Honor Society — a club focused on leadership and service — through an anonymous form. 

Junior Riley Gaikowski is a member of NHS and has DeFeo as a teacher for repertory theater. NHS focuses on helping the community through service projects, another part of this is praising community members, according to Gaikowski.

“There’s a lot of really great teachers and [the award] is an opportunity to recognize some of their hard work because not all of them always get the recognition they deserve,” Gaikowski said. 

Freshman and theater student Maddie Torkelson believes that DeFeo was highlighted for this award due to his cheery personality and fostering a “safe and accepting” classroom, according to Torkelson.

“He’s been teaching at East for so long, yet he still has the same determination that he’s always had,” Torkelson said. “He’s still striving for that really friendly environment.”