Q&A With Our New Staff

Q: What did you do before teaching at St. Joe?

Ms. Caid: Before I taught at St. Joe — well I’ve been teaching for 20 years, this is my 21st year — I was at River Valley for 13 years. After I was at River Valley, an opening became available at Lakeshore. I was there for seven years, but then I needed more money. I’m a single mom, three kids and so I had to make the change. I was devastated to leave Lakeshore because my best friends are there and the yearbook program I had built up and everything was good, except the money, right? And then [the St. Joseph] opening became available. I live three minutes away, my kids are all here, I’m from here, why would I not want to teach here? It’s one of the best schools around. But in a very serendipitous chain of events, when I left Lakeshore, it actually opened up this position. I left Lakeshore and a Bridgman teacher came to Lakeshore. Mrs. Becker, who was here, took that Bridgman position. And so, I slid into the St. Joe position. When I left it kind of started that chain of events.

Mr. Constanti: This is my tenth year teaching. I’ve taught high school, middle school. I taught in Grand Rapids, over in Kalamazoo. My first year teaching was in Benton Harbor. I was working at a middle school in Kalamazoo for two years and then a teaching position opened up. My first year teaching I taught Economics and AP Economics. Otherwise I’ve taught ninth grade U.S. History and then eighth grade U.S. History.

Mrs. de la Foret: I am a nurse by trade, so the last ten years I’ve been an ER nurse. I worked in St. Joe for eight years and then I took a desk job the last two years working for Corewell Health doing quality, safety, and experience. I would review different safety events that happened throughout the hospital. Now I obviously teach and then I also pick up shifts in the ER.

Q: Where did you go to college?

Ms. Caid: I went to Grand Valley and studied secondary English education. My minor is French, which I have lost so long ago the ability to speak French. It is pathetic actually. Even though I studied abroad for a summer and I’m technically certified on paper to teach it, I have subbed for French classes before and I feel like I barely know the colors and numbers. So, I’ll stick to the English classroom.

Mr. Constanti: I went to Grand Rapids Community College first, not really knowing if I wanted to be a teacher. Went there, took some classes that had me volunteer at some different schools and really enjoyed that. So, I got a transfer scholarship to Grand Valley and got my bachelors there in secondary education. In 2020, I got my masters degree in secondary education at Davenport University. I minored in history. I love history. I think that’s the path I wanted to go on. When I was at community college I took a lot of history classes, and I thought, well what do you do with a history degree? Volunteering at schools and stuff really got me into teaching, got me into that passion.

Mrs. de la Foret: I got my first bachelors in psychology from Western. That was right out of high school, graduated in ‘97. Then, I decided that I wanted to go back to school for nursing. I did that when I was 35 years old. I got my associates degree in nursing from Lake Michigan College and then I went back and got my bachelor’s in nursing from an online program, Western Governors University, while I was still working.

Q: What is your favorite food?

Ms. Caid: Do I even have a favorite food? Nobody’s asked me that question in a long time. I do love some Silver Beach Pizza. I like pizza. Although, never go there in the summertime. Now that all of the people and FIPs are gone you can go, though.

Mr. Constanti: Probably lasagna. I have an italian heritage, my father’s side, yeah, a lot of italian food.

Mrs. de la Foret: Authentic mexican. I love Arriba and La Perla. Well, I love Taco Bell too, but we all know that’s not authentic. A couple years ago I probably would’ve said La Perla was my favorite out of the two, but we get Arriba literally once a week from DoorDash. It’s so good.

Q: What was your favorite subject in high school?

Ms. Caid: It was definitely English. It wasn’t until I was a sophomore, though, that I realized I was quite good at it. I had gone along in all of my English classes and gotten As and done really well. But it wasn’t until I was a sophomore that my teacher pulled me into the hallway during scheduling and said, “you need to be in honors English next year.” I remember just being so flattered and thinking, “oh my gosh she thinks I’m smart enough.” And then it dawned on me, well maybe it’s because I actually am smart enough.

Mr. Constanti: When I was in high school, I don’t think I really took school as serious up until my junior or senior year. I probably wasn’t hanging out with the right people either. It took my senior year to really figure it out, but I loved English, actually. I remember reading Othello, the Odyssey, and being really captivated by them. But also just history and learning about US history especially. Those were probably my best suits. When I was in high school we only had to take two years of math, so that was a beautiful thing. But, it’s funny because now I teach economics and there’s a lot of math involved. Maybe I should’ve had the four years.

Mrs. de la Foret: Probably Foods or something like that. I was not a great student. I mean I got good grades, but I hated history and all of the core subjects. I liked all of the electives. Back in the day we had keyboarding classes on typewriters. There was a sewing class that covered culinary and sewing, life skills basically. I did like art class too. I’m pretty creative and crafty. Those kinds of classes were my favorite.

Q: What sports did you play in high school?

Ms. Caid: I was a cheerleader so that took up football season and basketball season. I ended up having to quit the team, which I still feel horrible about, because I needed to work another job. I just didn’t have the extra time to put into it. But, I was really involved in cheerleading and we had practice every day after school. One of those days, every week, was devoted to making locker signs for the [football] boys. I think now, about the hours and hours and hours that I spent making a new locker sign every week, I think, man, that's a lot of posters for boys.

Mr. Constanti: I played football and baseball. I love sports, love getting into sports. I played club baseball at Grand Valley, which was a lot of fun. I try to when I have time, play softball.

Mrs. de la Foret: I played tennis for a bit, which I still love. I was a cheerleader for a year or so. I grew up playing softball, but I only played for one year in high school.

Q: What’s your favorite hobby?

Ms. Caid: I love house plants. I have over 100 house plants. I have an app to keep track of them because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to. I was sad to get an inside classroom because I only have [one] and I have to put a grow light in here because I think he’s not going to do very well. I’m into gardening. I have an overgrown vegetable garden. I obviously love to read, but I don’t get a whole lot of time to myself as a mom, but I try.

Mr. Constanti: Probably biking, going on mountain biking rides and trails. I love to read, too. Most of the time I really like reading non-fiction, you know, history. Being out in nature, really, too. The beach to a nice fall day out walking a trail. I love all seasons. I think that’s what's great about Michigan, you get every season. I think there’s something to enjoy about each one. 

Mrs. De La Foret: I like to read. I’m big into Colleen Hoover books right now. I like to shop, my husband would probably say that’s my favorite hobby. And just spending time with my family and friends.

Q: Do you have any hidden talents?

Ms. Caid: I feel like I could still do the [cheerleading] moves to the Fite Song. I don’t know if that’s really a talent, though. I would have to practice.

Mr. Constanti: I taught myself how to play the guitar when I was in high school. I can’t read music or anything, but reading tabs and figuring out guitar parts, I’ve been able to do that. My good friends in high school were very musically talented. 

Mrs. De La Foret: I would just say I’m crafty and creative. I don’t know if that’s a talent, really. There’s nothing fun about that.