Teacher Spotlight: Mr. Mendola

With the 2025-2026 school year winding down, I thought I would take an opportunity to do a teacher spotlight on a teacher who certainly deserves it, Mr. Mendola. Earlier this month, I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Mendola, one of Kenmore West’s fabulous business teachers, a musician, and the hero of the Student Council, among other titles. 

Before we get to the interview, I would like to speak of one of the many positive experiences I’ve had with Mr. Mendola. Earlier this year, a collection of other students (including but not limited to Liam Pavel and Joe Ward) and I recognized the need to increase attendance and school spirit at sporting events. Mr. Mendola invited us to the Student Council to discuss how to increase attendance at sports games. Mr. Mendola was super helpful with our efforts and assisted us with putting our ideas into action. This is something we are all very grateful for and appreciate tremendously, as our student section at this year's sporting events was among the best in the school’s recent history. Now, let’s get to the interview and hear from the man himself. 

Mr. Mendola started teaching at Kenmore West in 2005, with this year being his 20th year of teaching at Kenmore West. He is the advisor of Kenmore West’s Student Council and leads each year’s senior class in planning and fundraising for the post-prom celebration. He gained an interest in business during his time at the University at Buffalo. Although he didn’t go into college with an intended major, he found his calling during his time there, and wants students to know that it’s okay to go into college not knowing exactly what you want to do. Once he graduated from the University at Buffalo, Mr. Mendola helped his father run his small business for around a decade. He never thought he would become a teacher, but he found out that he enjoyed leading and helping others learn about business from a business youth leadership activity he participated in. This revelation sparked Mr. Mendola to go back to college, and with the support of his father letting him miss a little work, he became a teacher. 

The start of Mr. Mendola’s career was not at Kenmore West. To our dismay, Mr. Mendola taught at Kenmore East for his first year as a teacher. He would bounce around for a few years after this, ultimately ending up at Kenmore West in 2005. During his two decades teaching and serving Kenmore West, the thing Mr. Mendola likes the most about Kenmore West is the opportunity it presents to build a community with the students and staff. This is one of the main reasons Mr. Mendola became an advisor for Student Council, which he highly recommends all students of Kenmore West attend at least once in a while, regardless of grade, in order to have their voice heard and have their opinions listened to. Throughout the years, Mr. Mendola has been inspired and motivated by having the privilege to teach new students each year and prepare a large portion of each year’s senior class for college and financial life as an adult. I can personally attest to the usefulness of Mr. Mendola’s College, Career, and Finances class, as many of the terms, jargon, and information he has taught our class helped me significantly in my college search and allowed me to understand many things with much more ease. When asked about students, Mr. Mendola said his favorite students to teach are those who are nice, down to earth, and respectful, as well as those who attend Student Council and help fundraise. 

When asked about this year’s student section, Mr. Mendola commented that it was one of the best sections he had ever seen during his twenty years at Kenmore West. He loved the strength of the student sections this year for hockey, basketball, and football. Mr. Mendola attributes the success of this year's student section to kids stepping up to spread the word about sporting events, involvement from seniors to make the student section really come together, along with kids showing up and being loud and proud while staying respectful. One thing Mr. Mendola would like to see improved in next year’s student section is mascot volunteering. Mr. Mendola commented about how not many people volunteered to be the mascot this year, potentially limiting crowd energy at some events. When discussing the topic with Mr. Mendola, he mentioned the possibility of potentially giving incentives to those who would volunteer to be the blue devil, such as gift cards for food and stores. Even though this year’s success in raising school spirit at sporting events is wonderful, Mr. Mendola would love to see school spirit and pride in Kenmore West continue to increase. He knows that pride in Kenmore West and continued student involvement, especially in student council, would increase students' respect for their school and solve many other issues. Throughout my interview with Mr. Mendola, what he brought up the most was the importance of student involvement. Going to Student Council meetings allows each individual student to give their opinion on the issues in the school that matter most to them. Participating in school events and activities not only helps build the community at Kenmore West but is also a huge factor in the efficiency of fundraising efforts, which help make events at Kenmore West fun and enjoyable for the student population. 

As far as advice goes, one piece of advice Mr. Mendola would give to all students at Kenmore West, something which his seniors hear all the time, is to get a secured credit card when you turn 18 and make sure you pay it in full, on time, every time. Mr. Mendola would also like all of those who take his classes to be able to effectively manage their money. He wants students to be able to satisfy all of their needs and most of their wants when they start earning money. 

I would like to take this last section to thank Mr. Mendola for letting me interview him and for being such an awesome teacher, Student Council advisor, and post-prom fundraiser. So much of what goes on at Kenmore West is managed by those you may not see every day or know, so articles like these are important to recognize the individuals who put in so much effort behind the scenes. Thank you all for reading. Roll Devils!