John Valente
A teacher at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology at Sandy Hook, for 35 years, formally announced his retirement at the end of this school year at the annual Pass in Review ceremonies honoring him and the Class of 2023. The ceremony was held on Pershing Field May 25.
Valente, a native of Florida where his father was a mounted policeman in Coral Gables, grew up in New York, his parents’ native city, when the family moved there when he was seven years of age.
He attended school in New York before moving to New Jersey after graduating from Queens College. He completed a Master of Physics Science degree from the College of New Jersey and taught science at several different schools in the state before starting at MAST 35 years ago.
Valente is a vice president of the NJ Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers and has served for 20 years as chair of the NJ Physics Olympics Committee.
He and his wife Valerie, an artist and chair of the Red Bank Catholic High School art department whom he met when he taught there, have been married 32 years and have one daughter.
Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman Senior Instructor of the NJROTC program at MAST, was principal speaker at Valente’s retirement ceremony, and led the crowd of parents, faculty and cadets in applauding Valente for all he has done for MAST and the NJROTC during his three and a half decades of service at the school.
She told him “We cannot count the number of lives you have touched by your love of and passion for teaching.” She told stories she has heard over the ten years she has been at MAST from graduates who told her how easy physics in college was because of their education at MAST under Valente’s tutorship.
The retired officer added that Valente’s impact “has been immense, and you are one of the kindest, most caring people I have ever met,” feelings she said, which are shared by the Naval Senior Chief and Chief who also teach at MAST.
In his talk, Valente told the students it is they who are making his retirement so bittersweet since he has enjoyed teaching them for so many years and is reluctant to say goodbye to MAST and all it has meant to him.
Following his thanks and a standing ovation from the crowd, the entire MAST NJROTC honored Valente with their Pass in Review march.
