Mr. Florio, nicknamed Flo by his students, is a math teacher, WHS varsity baseball assistant coach, and WHS freshman basketball coach.
Flo graduated from Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, CT, where he did well and was considered a good kid. He maintained good grades, was a student athlete, but “took Algebra 2 as a senior, so take that for what you will.”
Outside of academics, Flo played three sports for Wilcox Tech: soccer, basketball, and baseball. Soccer happened to be his least favorite out of the three because he did not necessarily want to play, but the coach had asked him to. He was never much of a soccer player, but, “I did get to start varsity, [but it was] honestly because there were only 11 or 12 kids on the team.” Similarly to soccer, Flo got asked to play basketball by the coach as well, despite the fact he had not played his freshman year.
Flo’s favorite sport was baseball. Throughout his childhood, he played AAU baseball, which helped him get closer to his dad because “[his] dad was in the military, so the long rides up to AAU ball [allowed us to] talk a lot.” In his freshman year, Flo did not play varsity, but in sophomore year he became “the varsity starting pitcher.” He eventually went on to play division III baseball for UConn Avery Point. At Avery Point the coach told him not to try out, but he made the team and some of the best memories of his life. After his two years at Avery Point, he transferred and played at Rhode Island College.
While the drives to AAU ball strengthened his relationship with his dad, he was close with both of his parents throughout his childhood.
Flo has two older brothers, but really only grew up with one of them, his brother Chip. Chip is two years older than him and throughout their entire childhood “we fought all the time. Chip would protect me from anyone except himself; he was definitely my biggest hater.” Flo’s second brother is his half brother Pat, who is 11 years older than him. “Pat and I didn’t really grow up together. He lived in New Hampshire with his mom, so we weren’t really that close.”
The first and only job that Flo had throughout high school was a landscaping job that he got through his mom’s connections. Flo said, “My mom worked at a diner, so she knew a bunch of old guys.” One of the “old guys” had a landscaping business and hired Flo.
His first car was an ‘02 Nissan Ultima. Flo said, “My parents were looking for a new car, so I got their old one.”
Being at a Technical High School, Flo’s favorite part of high school was the daily routine of electrical shop. At Wilcox Tech, every two weeks would switch from academics to shop. Flo declared that “we had an old teacher, so he didn’t really care anymore,” which Flo would use for his benefit. He would get to school, park outside the shop, and wait for 30 minutes before going in. Once he would finally go in, “we would spend 45 minutes getting the bus ready for electrical work, even though it definitely did not take 45 minutes.”
He then would microwave either an Ellio’s pizza or buffalo chicken for breakfast and finally get on the bus to go to the house they were doing electrical work on. “Typically, on the way to the house, our teacher would stop at Dunkin Donuts to get us donuts, and then we’d go to the store to pick up supplies.” They would then do the work on the house and on the way home, stop at a grinder shop. The bus was always a fun time. Flo explained, “We would blast Taylor Swift and just fight on the bus.”
When the class would go to a house, two people would have to stay back and change lightbulbs for the school. Flo also enjoyed staying back, not because he liked changing lights, but because this was his nap time. “There were huge shelves in the electrical supply closet. I would climb to the top and sleep on the top shelf. Some teachers actually emailed my parents asking if I was working a third shift job because I was sleeping so much.”
In high school, Flo was not necessarily a slacker, “but I did what needed to be done.” he said. In college he became more motivated because he felt as though he was academically behind average public school students since he was at a tech school. Flo transferred to Rhode Island College and became even more motivated “because my parents were putting so much into helping me continue my baseball career like out-of-state tuition.” he explained.
In college he realized he was willing to put the time in but his biggest downfall was “I didn’t know how to effectively learn on my own.” With each semester, he gained more strategies to succeed such as more organized notes and better study habits.
A piece of advice that Flo has to give to students now is that “a rolling stone grows no moss. My dad said that in reference to always trying to progress, stuff like taking more classes, getting a degree, exercise, whatever keeps you moving rather than staying still and “growing moss.”
