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Married: With Students
Photo Credit: Taryn Thiele-Sardina
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Written by Haley McCabe
This is Part I in a series
The Caryotakises
As most students know, there are many couples who work together at M-A—The Snows, the Carsons, the Burton-Tillsons, the Cristernas, the Caryotakises, the Stuarts—but no one knows much about them. Where were they married? How did they get engaged? Plenty of students spend every day with one or both members of a couple, but how much do we really know about our married teachers?
Although both work here at M-A, these two teachers do not often see each other because they work in different departments and have different teaching schedules. Mrs. Caryotakis spends her days teaching AS Chemistry in C-1 while Mr. Caryotakis works as an AS Algebra II teacher over in the D-wing. Mrs. Caryotakis says that she doesn’t see her husband “unless it’s lunch and there’s food in the mini-fridge.”
Their morning routines are as separate as the subjects they teach, as Mrs. Caryotakis wakes up at 4 am to prepare for school while Mr. Caryotakis sleeps in and makes breakfast for their children, Sofia and Nik, who both attend La Entrada Middle School. Because of this, they do not drive to school together, despite the fact that they live in the same house.
Both of the Caryotakises were teaching at M-A when they first met. On their first date, the pair went to a Stanford’s Men’s Basketball game, with Mr. Caryotakis’ best friend along as his wingman. The two continued to date until Mr. Caryotakis decided that they should get married.
They were at the Peninsula Creamery grading papers comfortably in their sweatpants on a school night. Mr. Caryotakis then gave Mrs. Caryotakis a word puzzle. She solved the puzzle, only to be baffled by the question her solution posed. She says,
“I solved it, and it said ‘Will you marry me?’ but I wasn’t sure. I was worried that I solved it wrong and he was actually asking me ‘Will you go out with me on Saturday?’ or something. I didn’t want to say yes to marrying him and embarrass myself if that wasn’t what he was asking.”
So Mrs. Caryotakis made Mr. Caryotakis propose the proper way, when they weren’t wearing sweatpants or grading papers. In the end, Mr. Caryotakis had to propose three times until he could get an answer because, as Mr. Caryotakis says, “she wasn’t quite sure what I was asking.”
So the Caryotakises were married on February 17, 1995, a teacher in-service day. Mr. Caryotakis had to teach teachers on the morning of his wedding, while Mrs. Caryotakis called in sick. Had they invited students and teachers to the service, it could have been filled to the brim with M-A Bears, but instead they opted for a “small, budget-conscious wedding.” In fact, only two teachers knew they were getting married, and not a single student knew that they were dating in the first place. To announce the wedding to her students, Maria walked into her classes the next day and said “I am Mrs. Caryotakis now!”
When asked about the upsides of working with his wife, Mr. Caryotakis mentioned that one of the biggest conveniences is that “if you lock your keys in the car, there is always another set of keys.” And you better not act out in one of their classes- they have admitted that they often discuss their students at home, especially the ones they have in common.
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February 1st, 2010 at 12:18 pm
…students that act out and they have in common? oh u mean louis mccabe
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February 3rd, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Thats funny because that’s Haley’s brother. ha…..
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February 10th, 2010 at 12:45 am
Louis is all hype. This story warmed my cold, cold heart Haley.
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February 18th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Well done on Part I in a series. Just curious… When will Part II in a series be hitting The M-A Bear News Online? There are so many teacher couples to report on, and so few months left of school. Chop chop, Bear News.
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