Salvatore Zarra puts 34 years in the books, retires at 61

By Owen Lentner, Editor-in-Chief

Salvatore Zarra stepped out of his red Subaru Outback early on an unassuming Friday morning, January 23. A brisk wind whipped around the Branford High School parking lot as he walked to the entrance under a clear, sunny sky.

In the hallways, students and teachers alike complimented his tie-dyed “Salapalooza” shirt and reminisced on fond memories – then finally, wished him the best for his last day at the high school.

Zarra began teaching at the high school in 1992 in the Horizons, now ATLAS, alternative education program. He taught in the program for thirty of his thirty-four years at the high school.

“I taught math the whole way through in Horizons,” Zarra opened in an interview with The Buzz.

In 2022, BHS administration decided to bring all the alternative education teachers into traditional positions, allowing the traditional teachers a spot in the alternative education area.

In the traditional landscape, he taught a variety of math classes – ranging from Algebra II to Pre-Calculus and Discrete Math.

After a year teaching traditional math, there was an opening for a Business teacher at the school, which Zarra decided to fill.

“I was certified in business and said you know what, I want to teach these kids how to handle money. I want to teach them how to budget, how to make smart decisions, so I took that job,” he said.

Zarra taught a variety of business focused courses including Foundations of Business, Accounting, Business Law until his last day at the school.

He grew up in the New Haven area, but moved to Cheshire when he was twelve, where he’s been since 1976. Zarra graduated from Cheshire High School in the Class of 1982.

“I loved high school… I went to school every single day, except a period of one month that I missed school after my Junior Prom,” he explained. “I was taking down decorations at the prom and I fell through the girls gym ceiling; I fell forty feet, bounded off the wall, broke my right hip, and spent a couple weeks in the hospital.”

Zarra was involved in the Student Government at Cheshire, acting as a Class Officer and Homeroom Rep. He was also voted the superlatives including most school spirit, most talkative, as well as most friendly – the latter he gave to his friend Johnny White, who was voted second place behind him.

Upon graduating, the then eighteen-year old applied to a variety of colleges, ultimately choosing UConn Business School.

“I spent four years loving UConn; I was the UConn Husky for one day,” Zarra said. “They needed someone to dress up for the United Way Foundation, the real Husky was out of town so they said ‘Hey Sal, we have a uniform here you can put it on and go and get some sponsors’, so I was a Husky for one day!”

“I played every pickup sport at UConn,” he explained fondly. “I played Volleyball and Basketball and Water Polo. I went to Field Hockey games, Girls Basketball games… I’d watch in the stands for the Girls Basketball games and there would be maybe ten of us there since it hadn’t really caught on yet.”

Zarra graduated UConn in 1986 and worked as an Investment Advisor for five years afterwards. However, in 1991, he had an epiphany that changed his career path forever.

“I realized that I enjoyed teaching people how to handle their money, not chasing them down for their money to invest it on my own,” he explained. “I saw that some of my clients were teachers and looked at the field’s retirement packages and the money they were making… Then, I decided I was going to go to school to become a teacher.”

Zarra attended a fast-tracked, eight-week program to certification, attending classes ten hours a day over the summer of 1991.

In 1992, he took a part time position in the Horizons program at Branford High School, teaching Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and his own additional course – Personal Finance.

“These kids need to know this stuff; I was the first one to put together that program and eventually they realized the whole school needs it,” Zarra explained. “Rich Biondi, Vicky Climie – they taught with me in Horizons; we had an all-star team. It was beautiful.”

Salapalooza
While at Branford High School, Zarra was the advisor to Student Government, acting as the advisor since 1994.

“In 1997, I had a student by the name of Scott Merrick, who said we should have an end of the year celebration. That year we had hot dogs, soda, music, and watermelon. It was two and a half hours of celebrating each other’s company, signing yearbooks… just being together,” he said.

This celebration came to be known as “Salapalooza,” and has stuck around at the high school since its initial debut.

“The next year we said we should make this even bigger: we got pizza for everybody, and we had a student-faculty softball game. A couple years after that, we brought in some dunking tanks, and because I ran Veterans’ Appreciation Day with Rich Biondi, [the military] brought a Black Hawk Helicopter in for show and tell.”

“All good things come to an end; unfortunately, a lot of kids were coming, getting their food, hanging around for a little while, then taking off after an hour. The school said we can’t have kids unaccounted for, so they said we’ll give you an hour and a half, then kids will go to class afterwards,” he said.

Student Government relied mainly on cash coming in from soda machines to sponsor Salapalooza and similar events. After the 2008 campaign by Michelle Obama to make school food and drinks more healthy, the machines were taken out.

Nevertheless, the decreased cash flow from the vending machines didn’t stop the celebration; Salapalooza has been going strong at BHS since its first year, with Student Government citing no plans to stop the festival with Zarra’s retirement.

Retirement
“A few years my mother fell down on New Year’s Eve, after midnight. She broke her wrist, and hurt her back; we spent the night in the Emergency Room and since then she’s had trouble getting up and moving around,” Zarra said near the end of the interview.

Since 2021, Zarra has been taking care of his mother after her fall. Her condition has only deteriorated with time, he noted. He shared that she was the reason he chose to retire, citing he wants to spend more time with her and enjoy her company uninterrupted in her final years.

“The early onset of darkness and cold weather affects her a bit, so I’m in the house to keep her emotionally and physically supported,” he said.

As Sal walked out of the high school, with the sun setting behind the landscape that Friday afternoon, he wasn’t leaving behind a classroom and school; but a community of people that enjoyed his company and, above all, admired the man who knew when it was time to stop chasing the world, and start heading home.

“I want my students and colleagues to remember me as someone who cared, someone who gave his best every day, and did whatever they could to help out people however and whenever,” he concluded.