Chris Torino joined Blake as Head of School in July. He and Dena, his wife, have been exploring the Twin Cities by cheering on the Twins, Lynx and Timberwolves at games, following up on restaurant recommendations, taking in shows and running an occasional 5K. Chris and Dena have two grown children, Cole and Celia, and two Samoyeds, Lupa (“Wolf”) and Orsa (“Bear”), who are eagerly awaiting their first Minnesota winter.
Q: Name five things that make you happy
A: My family, friends and dogs; baseball; weekend morning reading with a good cup of coffee
Q: What did you want to be when you were small?
A: A Major League Baseball player
Q: If you could live in a different country for a year, which country would you choose?
A: Italy, where I studied abroad for a semester during college.
Q: Aside from necessities, what is one thing you could not go a day without?
A: Laughter
Q: What piece of advice would you give your 16-year-old self?
A: Engage fully in the life of your school, stay curious and continually expand the group of people with whom you genuinely connect.
Q: What's your favorite family tradition?
A: Hosting the Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner for many friends and family on Christmas Eve for the past 23 years.
Q: In what ways are you the same as your childhood self?
A: Consistently smiling
Q: What teacher inspired you the most? How?
A: I've truly had too many inspiring teachers in all phases of my education—PK through graduate schools—to detail here. One especially influential teacher was Mr. Gotsill, who gave me a D+ on my first junior English essay (about “The Red Badge of Courage”). Then, as great teachers do, he asked me to meet before school, when he talked through the entire essay with me, encouraged me to rewrite it and turn in another draft, and then he made sure I understood the ways in which I improved and still needed to improve. He challenged me with high expectations and supported me to reach them.
Q: What do you miss most about being a kid?
A: Losing track of time doing—being fully present in—whatever I was doing. Believing that I could journey down any number of hundreds of potential paths through life.
Q: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?
A: Walking my dogs or out for a run
Q: What’s your dream job?
A: Serving as Blake's Head of School!
Q: What day in your life would you like to relive?
A: A day I spent in 2022 Utrecht, Netherlands with my family—Dena, Cole and Celia. We took a train in and out of town, ate amazing food, climbed all 465 steps of the Dom Toren (built in the 1300s) for a majestic view of the city, and closed out the day with conversation, competition and laughter over a game of Bananagrams.
Q: If you could live inside any sitcom, which one would it be?
A: “Ted Lasso,” “Seinfeld” and/or (if we call it a sitcom) “The Bear”
Q: What book has influenced you greatly? How?
A: Ralph Ellison's “Invisible Man”—the first novel I ever taught, and it ignited a lifelong love of teaching.
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
A: Everyday conversations and interactions with those around me—most especially students—reading and moments of reflection