Mr. Tavolacci has a strange method of getting his students’ attention. He is currently an AP Language and Composition and English III teacher at Whitney Young. “Mr. T is a funny, entertaining teacher who lightens up my first period every day with his laugh. It kinda sounds like a hyena snickering at a rabbit it has just killed,” says Terik Priest ‘18. Mr. Tavolacci is a young, hip, Italian man who grew up in Oak Park. “I like the stories he tells us about his past. Like that one time that he said he was too scared to ask a girl to prom and then some other douchebag asked her and he was salty. He laughs about it now but I can still hear the remorse in that laugh,” commented Patricia Calderon ‘17. The thing about Mr. Tavolacci’s laugh is that it is very distinct. It sometimes can go on for 45 seconds, just five minutes shy of the world record! And it is very firm from start to finish. “If you’ve ever been to a beach in Cali, you’d probably recognize Mr. T’s laugh to be the sound that the Seals make over there,” says Rahul Mikkilineni ‘18. There is no doubt that Mr. Tavolacci has captivated his students with his laughter and his legacy shall live on.