Spanish teacher and former student here at Westhampton Beach, Mrs. Lagattolla has been in love with Spanish for years. Many years ago when Mrs. Lagattolla was a student at WHB she was inspired by her Spanish teacher and developed a love for Spanish. And the rest is history. Now in her 27th year of teaching the language, she has plans for the future. Plans to continue her Spanish adventure.

Mrs. Lagattolla was originally from East Moriches where she attended their school before coming to Westhampton Beach as a freshman. She was in Spanish class one day during freshman year and something amazing happened. Mrs. Matros presented the class with photos of her vacation through places like South America and other Spanish speaking lands. Mrs. Lagattolla knew from then on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, speak Spanish and travel.

In her junior year of college at Geneseo Mrs. Lagattolla spent some of her time at La Universidad de Salamanca also called the University of Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. She moved in with a family who lived in the city. There were four kids ages 11-21 and two parents. “I did everything with them,” said Mrs. Lagattolla,”we watched The Price is Right on Thursday nights.” She fell in love with everything in Spain from the culture to the people. After spending a semester in Spain attending at the university, Mrs. Lagattolla said goodbye to her 2^nd family and flew home to America. “I would go back there in a heartbeat,” she said. After several years of teaching at a neighboring school Mrs. Matros, the teacher who instilled a love for Spanish in Mrs. Lagattolla many years ago was retiring. Mrs. Lagattolla replaced the same Spanish teacher that she had aspired to be just like. “Come home Lisa, she said,” said Mrs. Lagattolla.

Due to the recent events in Paris and threats all around Europe many people are living in fear of traveling. People are detoured from traveling to places like Spain in Europe due to this. Mrs. Lagattolla said, “I feel as though it will be very safe and the security will be great. The terrorists want to paralyze all of us and make us feel terrorized. We can’t let them win, but I do understand the people who are refusing to travel because of it. I feel for the people of Paris and all those effected.” All of these attacks and threats are stopping people from doing what they love. People who love to travel and experience the world like Mrs. Lagattolla are being held back.

After she retires from teaching, Mrs. Lagattolla plans to continue her Spanish endeavors through travel and experience of all sorts of different Spanish speaking cultures and places. “I would love to have a Time Share or apartment in Sevilla or the Costa del Sol,” she said. When asked if she had anything about her life that she would regret or do differently she said, “In college I would have used the free gym more instead of eating buffalo wings.”