Last year, the school bid farewell to Drew Tocco, the former marketing teacher of five years here at Roosevelt High School (RHS). Tocco made the decision to pursue other career opportunities outside of RHS, but the lessons he taught us about marketing and about life in general will be remembered.
Tocco connected with his students and created an environment they enjoyed. “I miss the trivia he did,” says Cole Whitehouse ‘24, a former student of Tocco’s, referring to the 300 trivia cards students would guess answers from each day.
Tocco provided students with a well thought out and interesting curriculum, he assisted students before and after school whenever needed and one can’t forget the many hours he spent preparing students for the annual Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) competitions.
His memory is physically present throughout the building. If you have peeked into a select handful of rooms around the school, you might have noticed some posters. These posters display a bust of Tocco, inside an image of an ornate golden frame. The image shows Tocco looking downward and it’s clear he is beaming. Near the bottom of the frame it reads “2018-2023,” commemorating his time served here at Roosevelt High School.
The posters’ origins were originally unclear, but it didn’t take much digging to find the man behind it all. In one of the rooms where this poster resides is Taylor Rainwater, who revealed himself as the creator of the artwork. The poster originated at the end of last school year as a way to remember Tocco, who knew he wasn’t going to be coming back this year. Looking at the photos of previous Roosevelt principals on the second floor, Rainwater joked about putting one of Tocco up on the wall, and thus the idea was born.
But it’s more than just a joke between two friends, Rainwater had stated that Tocco “left a big hole. There’s a lot of fellow teachers who really miss him, and a lot of students really miss him. He’s a great guy,” Rainwater said about the man on the poster.
“I love how passionate he was about Detroit sports,” said Jonathan Findley ‘24. Tocco is a native Detroiter and he never missed an opportunity to discuss life growing up in Detroit, his love of the Pistons basketball team and many other topics related to his hometown.
While posters cannot fill the absence of a person, thanks to Rainwater, and the many interactions Tocco had with his students in the classroom, at DECA and within the school, we can hold these unique memories, experiences and lessons for always.
