By Maddy Buffardi
Student Life and Managing Editor

Chemistry teacher Neal Oberto —better known as the ‘silver fox’ or ‘NOberto’ — has perfected the art of making class enjoyable for his students while keeping it educational. Oberto is known for his interesting demonstrations and hands-on labs which help to involve his students in the curriculum. He shared that his favorite part of teaching are labs, his favorite being the one dealing with “hot-ice.”

For most of his pre-college career, Oberto was on the wrong side of the rivalry, attending Pennsubury up until his sophomore year when he switched to Neshaminy. Following graduation Oberto attended Temple University in Philadelphia. He worked as a coach for wrestling, football, and track at Neshaminy Middle before he was a teacher here at Neshaminy High Scool.

As odd as it may seem, teachers do have lives beyond the walls of the class room, in fact Oberto works two other jobs – one in roofing sales, and he also owns a landscaping company with physics teacher, Andrew Szymczak. Oberto is very close with multiple Neshaminy teachers, having once roomed with Hank Oppenheimer.

He is also married, with three little Obertos running around. Oberto is the father of two boys, Tyler, 3, and Drew, 1, as well as On top of everything else, Oberto said one of his hobbies is traveling – with an extensive list of places he’s been to show for it, which includes, Italy, Germany, Jamaica, and Mexico. Last year he ran the “Tough Mudder” run and is planning on running a half marathon March 30 with a few fellow teachers.

After having Brian Suter as a teacher when he was in high school and studying pre-med at Temple, Oberto decided he wanted to be a science teacher. Being a good teacher extends beyond the classroom, and beyond the regular seven-and-a-half hour day – it is one thing to teach, but an entirely different thing to be able to connect with your students, and Oberto has very clearly been able to do that. He shared that one of his favorite things about being a teacher is being involved in more than just the educational aspect of it, which is why he became the class adviser.

Oberto is the class advisor for the junior class, helping the class officers to carry out their duties and assisting with multiple school events, such as prom. It isn’t hard to see that Oberto loves his job and that he feels it’s important to get to know his students in order to better be able to educate them. It always positive for a student to feel comfortable in the classroom and a good relationship and respect for your teacher makes for a much better learning experience.

It’s been said time and time again by Oberto-chem-class-alumnus that they hated chemistry but loved going to Oberto’s class. With a witty sense of humor and the ability to make most any lesson at least a little bit entertaining, Oberto makes chem class bearable. It’s important to have teachers like this, because no matter how much a student may hate the subject, if they appreciate the class they are bound to learn more.

Oberto is known at Neshaminy for a few things, one important one being his sense of style. While Oberto denies being a fashionista , referring to his style as “boring” and “no-fun.” Though it’s hard to ignore his signature over-pocketed cargo pants, and sandals – for which Oberto has coined the term “mip-mops” rather than the traditional “man-dal.”