If you find yourself taking a class with English teacher Ms. Reagan Lattari, it is certain that you are in for a treat.
Lattari’s taste for baking has given her a special way to express herself and connect with her students, both inside and outside the classroom.
“I had a group of students that would hang out here after school, so I started making them snacks,” Lattari said. “It took over where I would try different things, and I started baking a lot.”
With fond memories of childhood sweets, Lattari bakes with inspiration from her grandmother’s recipes.
“One of the favorite things that I make for the kids are my crownies, which is a Christmas cookie recipe of hers,” Lattari said.
Before Lattari makes homemade treats for her classes, she puts into consideration the class size, schedule, and cost of ingredients.
“Last year, they were really fortunate because I had small classes,” Lattari said. “If I had one box of cupcake mix, I could feed a whole class. But when I have huge classes, I have to make so many, so it can fluctuate.”
Giving her classes baked goods on fun occasions brings Lattari just as much joy as it does her students.
“For holidays, if I have enough time to make sugar cookies, I’ll use a candy corn or pumpkin cookie cutter,” Lattari said. “I try to avoid grading papers, so I’ll just spend a day decorating cookies and I’ll give them a treat whenever I have the time.”
At Haven’s last ever faculty baking championship over 10 years ago, Lattari went head-to-head with Spanish teacher Mr. Gino Miraglia for first place.
“I put my crownies in there, and I only got second place. Mr. Miraglia just had these cookie dough balls that didn’t even get baked, and I still think that I was robbed,” Lattari said.
Though he ended up taking the trophy, Miraglia showed his admiration for Lattari’s side.
“I voted for the crownies, and Ms. Lattari probably should have won,” Miraglia said. “I could throw up my pumpkin roll against her crownies and she probably would win.”
For Lattari’s students, her baked goods served as a memorable aspect of her classes.
“She took her time out of her day after school and baked us stuff for fun out of her own enjoyment,” senior Katie McGuffin, a previous student of Lattari’s, said. “It just brought a smile to all of our faces when she would come in with some baked goods.”
Lattari receives requests for her treats to be catered to certain events, showing the meaning her baking has to the people she shares it with.
“I’ve had a couple students’ parents ask me if I could make a certain thing that the kids loved for their graduation parties,” Lattari said. “If I had them as a freshman and they remembered, that’s so special four years later.”
