Seeing Teachers in Public

by Laszlo Stein

Sequoyah High School, Pasadena, CA

There are many moments in our lives that bring about extreme awkwardness: meeting

your girlfriend's parents, waving at someone who's not waving at you, saying “you too” to the waiter when he tells you to enjoy your meal. But all of those awkward experiences are overshadowed by seeing a teacher in public. There is no handbook for teachers, and there's no helpful Reddit board for students. So, when such different parts of our lives collide, how do we deal with it?

In September of 2025, Gideon S. ‘27 walked into Humanities Department Chair Calina Ciobanu picking up food with a man at In-and-Out. Right after a concert put on by high school students who play classical music in Pasadena, Gideon and Hart L. decided to stop at an In-and-Out in Pasadena for some food. The two sat down after ordering, and noticed Calina eating with a gentleman a few tables over.

“It seemed like she was on a date… and my first thought was just like, this is a once in all lifetime opportunity,” said Gideon. The two approached the table and said hi to Ciobanu and the gentlemen. Ciobanu said hi back, and the two made small talk about classes and assignments. However, the gentleman stayed silent. So, “we never managed to talk to him,” said Gideon. Before the two left, they took pictures of the two eating together. The next day, Ciobanu “made sure we had no photos, so we had to delete all our photos,” he said. Gideon completely understands the uncomfortable position Ciobanu was left in during this interaction. He pointed out that if he was a teacher, “I would also not want to meet a student during a date.” He talked to Ciobanu the next day, who told him that, “she's not going back to that location.”

Science Department Chair and Director of the STEM Institute Grayson Throckmorton

has been spotted more often than almost any other teacher. Quinn O. ’27 and Luca

D. ’27 ran into Throckmorton at a concert on October 10th. Quinn knew she might see

him there since he’d mentioned attending a few days earlier, but she dismissed the possibility given the event’s size. “I was like, there's no chance I'm going to see Grayson," Quinn said. However, as the concert was ending and people were leaving the venue, the two miraculously spotted each other. “I just hear my name being shouted... and I look up and I see Luca and Quinn… waving and screaming dramatically,” recalled Throckmorton.

Quinn and Grayson each left feeling differently about the interaction. Throckmorton remembers being excited and showing it. “I wave and scream, and I tell my friends that those were my students,” remembered Throckmorton. Later, he was able to walk past them, although, due to the crowdedness, could only say hi. Quinn remembered it differently, “He didn't really do anything. He wasn't very excited to see me, which made me really mad… me and him are really close, so I don't know why he wasn’t more excited.” Quinn felt like spotting Throckmorton in a crowd of 40,000 people was “a sign that me and him are close… This means he's a really good teacher,” she said.

Sophia S. '26 is not only used to seeing teachers outside of school but even enjoys it. She is the child of a teacher at the high school. Sophia brags, “I've been to Calina’s house. I know where Vivi lives. I know where Eric lives.”. She followed up the lamest brag ever with an even lamer one: “I also met Calina’s dog” and yet an even lamer one “I also used to go rock climbing with Calina and Hannah." When asked if she enjoys seeing teachers outside of school makes her a nerd, she responded by saying, “I have always seen teachers more as my friends in addition to being my teachers.” Which means,

yes.

There is something inherently awkward about running into your teacher in public. Sam H.

’27 summed it up well: “I think it's just teachers that you're seeing every day... seeing them in a different place. It is weird.” Although, according to Sam, the experience can more accurately be described as a weird almost out of body experience rather than an awkward one.

Most students I talked to seemed excited when they saw teachers in public. Rather than their first instinct being to run away, they approach their teachers and talk to them. Maybe that's a sign that Sequoyah accepts the right kind of teachers. Or maybe the wrong kind of students.