Mr. Bertoglio has been teaching Spanish at Sahuaro for nearly 14 years, since 2008. Before working here, he taught at Santa Rita, but he is now ready to graduate on to the next stage…literally.   After retiring, Bertoglio is planning to spend more time pursuing his two loves: spending time with his wife and continuing to pursue music.  El único profesor que canta became infatuated with The Beatles at 10 years old, listening and jamming out to all his favorite tunes. The instrument he decided to dedicate himself to was the classic guitar. In elementary school, he first started his endeavors with the violin, because it was just like a guitar, just a little smaller. When he was 13, Bertoglio was given a second-hand guitar and started teaching himself how to play the strings. After he turned 16, his career took off and he started playing on stage and singing everywhere. His favorite song to sing? Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles. His favorite singer? James Taylor.

“I played and sang for my wife for the first time. We weren’t married of course, but she liked it, and then eventually I talked her into marrying me.” This also happens to be the Spanish teacher’s favorite singing memory.

When I think of Bertoglio, English teacher Mrs. Watters says, “I immediately think of the ‘shameless plug’ emails about his many gigs around town.”

French teacher Madame Kelly says, “Thank you your lordship (you read that right, in case you did not know Mr. Bertoglio holds the title of Lord) for your kindness, great sense of humor, and for teaching me fun English slang words – my favorite one being scallywag. I also much enjoyed your musical talent; you sure made the 100 building a fun place to work. I will miss you… but I am also very happy for you and this new chapter of your life which is about to start; I am sure it will be MARAVILLOSO.”

He is incredibly considerate and kind, putting others first and sacrificing for others. Ben Robinson says, “I remember, not long ago, I went to a gas station that was pretty close to the school, a QT I think, and I was just running to get a donut before going somewhere else… I wasn’t planning on going to school (because it was a testing half day), but I see him and we greet each other because I had him freshman year. After I get my donut and go to the register, he was in front of me in line and offered to pay for my donut. It was just very surprising and quite honestly amazing because no one has ever done that for me. Although it was just a donut, that experience had a pretty big impact on me and greatly increased my respect for him. I’ve grown to honor and respect him, he really is a great man.”

We all will surely miss you as you begin a new phase of your life. We wish you great success and hope you accomplish all the things you wish to achieve. Thank you for the wonderful years you’ve spent teaching at our school!