A Lasting Legacy: One Last Sit-Down With Mr. Rona 

Every day, the Lakeside community is graced by the presence of a wise soul called Mr. Rona. Known as the Math 8A teacher, pioneer of LME, and creator of the Balloon Dog comics, he is one of the most beloved and esteemed teachers at Lakeside. As a student in his class, I can tell you firsthand that he’s incredibly witty and spirited, making learning math so fun. Whether it’s teaching us the quadratic formula in song, drawing unit circles with attitude, teaching us how to draw Balloon Dog, or giving away the most random objects to students, trivia-style, he gives his silliest and best self to his work every day.

This year, he announced his retirement after almost five decades of working at Lakeside, which shocked and saddened the school. I sat down with him one last time to talk about his career, favorite memories, and his excitement for retirement.

After all your years of being at Lakeside, what is your favorite memory?

“Ah, there’s so many. I remember the very first time I was standing in the lunch line. This is my third day of school, and you know, you’re waiting in line and you don’t know who to talk to. I didn’t really know anybody, and this kid behind me, anxious to start a conversation, turns to me and says, ‘So, do you come here often?’ And I thought, ok I’m going to like this place, people have a sense of humor. It’s kind of gone along like that! A lot of my favorite memories have to do with students either saying funny things or saying nice things.”

What do you love about Lakeside?

“Well, what I love about Lakeside is that I think I’m enough of an obsessive character that I like having lots to do, and to be in a school means you have lots to do, but it’s also a place where what you do is appreciated. I love being around students, I love being around fellow faculty members, and as I say, it’s extremely supportive: any time I do anything, people are very nice about it. What’s not to like? You’ve got lots to do and people like what you do! Who wouldn’t want to be there for a long time?”

What advice would you give to students at Lakeside?

“Learn to love the idea that you’re going to be busy because you will be busy doing good things, and that’s a great way to be busy. People can be busy in all kinds of ways but to be busy doing good things for your future and for your present, that’s something to be glad about, not something to feel sorry for yourself about.”

What do you want Lakeside students to remember about you?

“Well, that’s a funny question because I’m quite positive that after time goes by no one here at Lakeside is going to know me and that’s perfectly natural. Students I have had will probably remember that we had a lot of fun learning math, so that’s the basic thing. I hope they remember that I like them very much, because that’s certainly true.”

If you never went into math, what would you be doing right now?

“Well, that’s funny you asked about math because I taught history here at Lakeside and I taught English at Lakeside, so I might’ve been teaching one of those things. I think I’ve done enough subbing in French that I might’ve been teaching French. But apart from teaching all together, if I was not in teaching I would be doing something to do with the environment and climate mitigation, all that kind of stuff.”

What is something that you’re excited to do in your retirement? It opens up a lot of room to do a bunch of different things.

“Yeah, I’m a little bit scared of all that room. I’m used to having a lot right in front of me to do, and I wonder if at first I’ll be a little bit at loose ends. But probably the biggest thing is more time with my wife, and we just make it up - it could be travel, it could be just being home, it could be anything. We love each other's company so just spending more time together is the most exciting thing for me.”

What’s your bucket list of travel places?

“Hah, we’ve done a lot of traveling, so I don’t have anything left in the sense of ‘oh, I have to go there’ or ‘oh, I wish I could go there.’ What’s going to be different, or really different, is that I won’t have to always go traveling in the summer, so I might be able to travel in September or October, something like that, or do anything in those months that are typically pretty involved in school.”

So many people are curious to know - what’s the story behind the balloon dog?

 “Haha, yeah, what’s the deal? Well, in the late 70’s, I had a student named Martha, and she had this little cartoon that she did that was basically a raisin on a leash and I thought, oh wow, she has a signature cartoon. Why don’t I have one? So I started thinking, what’s something I could draw that would be reliable to draw over and over again? And I remember that when I do my signature, my middle initial is P for Paul, and it was kind of a scripty P, and I often thought it looked like a dog, so I sort of expanded that and it turned into balloon dog. So then I thought balloon dog would need some companions, so that became Millie. Then there [were] mysterious small versions [that] came to be known as The Twins, and people would always ask me, ‘Wait, are balloon dog and Millie married, and they had twins?’ And I always leave it mysterious; no one knows. It’s up to interpretation.”

Although our community will deeply miss Mr. Rona, he has a lot to look forward to in his retirement, and we should be excited about what adventures he will take next. We’ll still be seeing him around school as he’ll be working on LME and visiting, but let’s make sure his legacy lives on and cheer him on in this exciting next chapter of his life. Mr. Rona - be free, go play in the snow!