If you have entered Waterford High School through the second floor main entrance in the last year, chances are, you have met Michael Manning. Mr. Manning, former college drop out, Friendly’s employee, Army linguist, US Customs Intelligence Agent, and now substitute at WHS believes he has had a wonderful life. He says a good life is one spent making other’s lives better, a value he inherited from his father.
Mr. Manning began subbing at WHS in January of 2025, but this chapter is only the latest in the incredible story of his life. When asked about the path of his career, Manning explained that he never really knew his plan until everything fell into place. While he is very intelligent—with a perfect score on the math section of the SAT—in his first year at UMass Amherst, he realized college was harder than he anticipated. “It was there that I found out I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was.”
Where do many college dropouts find themselves? Restaurants. For Manning, this restaurant was a Friendly’s, where he found success, but not fulfillment. The day he was offered ownership of his own store “was the day I quit, because I realized I didn’t want to manage a restaurant for the rest of my life.” Manning turned down a chance at financial gain and future stability because to him, that wasn’t enough.
Manning spent the next four years of his life serving as a linguist in the US Army. From the Defense Language Institute, he learned Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, and Somali. With plans of going back to college after his service, he figured “if I’m a linguist, then I could knock off my foreign language requirements, too.” Upon his return to education, Manning studied history, and found school to be easy again. “All I had to do was do the assignments and study.”
After graduation, he still had no real plan for how to “make good” with his life. Manning joined the Air Force Reserve and was eventually offered a position as a Data Analyst with US Customs Services. He liked it, and it became his career.
Following 9/11, he was recruited as a Special Agent for Customs, where his list of specializations grew. During his time working for Customs, Manning worked on investigations surrounding drug trafficking, narcotics, fraud, forced child labor, cultural property, child sexual exploitation, national security, and human trafficking.
When asked which occupation he was most drawn to, Manning explained that he “was very passionate about forced child labor investigations,” and for years, he was widely regarded as the nation’s leading expert in that field. He liked working on cases surrounding child labor and child sexual abuse because, although he described the experiences he witnessed as “horrible,” he always returned to the thought that “at the end of the day, when [he] arrested someone, [he] got a really bad person off the street and possibly saved other children from being abused.”
Reflecting on his career, Manning described a feeling of growth regarding the impact his actions had. Though he started off busting drug dealers, he felt that he never made a difference in that occupation. “I wasn’t taking away the demand, and I wasn’t really affecting the supply, either.”
Once he began working on child cases, however, he “thought [he] was doing good.” Manning explained that his father was a volunteer firefighter. He was taught that “it’s your responsibility to help other people in any way you can.” He felt that the majority of his career was spent working towards this expectation and living up to the legacy of his father.
So how did a man who spent the majority of his life fighting for human rights end up at Waterford High School? Towards the end of his career with Customs, Manning moved from San Jose, California to New Haven, Connecticut with the hopes of retiring on the east coast where he grew up.
As it turned out, retirement wasn’t as relaxing as he expected it to be. Manning remarked, “Honestly, I was kind of bored being retired, and I knew I wanted to continue to service the community somehow.” After a lifetime of saving children from terrible fates, he wanted to continue his work with kids in a more positive environment. “I started off at the middle school… They are the worst. I worked there for about six days.”
Though no one would have blamed him if Clark Lane scared him away from teaching for good, Manning gave it one more chance at the high school level. Almost a year later, it is apparent that he found subbing at WHS a worthwhile endeavor.
When asked what his favorite part of the school was, Manning said with no hesitation, “The kids. I’m amazed by how talented you kids are… after so long only working with victims, I like to see young people who are thriving.”
Mr. Manning has become a familiar and joyful figure at Waterford High School. He hands out candy, dresses up as Santa Claus and always has a kind word with a smile on his face. His one piece of advice to anyone wanting to live a happy life was this: “I want everybody to do well but it’s better to do good. If you can do something that is helping other people—it could just be one person—no matter what you end up doing for your career, you will have a full and complete life.”
