Michael Deneui came to Lick-Wilmerding this year and was temporarily covering for Alessandra Mpandenyama. While his time at LWHS has been short, he loves the LWHS community and has truly enjoyed working here.
Deneui wasn’t always a teacher — in fact, he describes his past career as “the complete opposite of education.” Before coming to LWHS, Deneui worked in Silicon Valley. He said, “I was the chief executive officer of a technology company called Network Control managing telecommunications for large companies.” According to their website, Network Control “combines bill auditing, invoice management, technology and process consulting, wireless expense management, project management, and operational and business management support.”
However, in 2010, Deneui decided to take a different path and sold Network Control for just $1. He said, “I wanted to be done with Silicon Valley. I didn’t want to deal with high tech anymore. I wanted to do something fun and interesting.” At age 40, Deneui was retired and ready for a life of adventure.
Deneui said, “I traveled all over the place just did all kinds of stuff, you know, as you would imagine, when you retire, you know what’s the first thing you do? I did ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, and I traveled around the world.” He lived in Argentina and Costa Rica for almost a year. It was throughout these travels that Deneui discovered his love for the Spanish language. After over a decade in retirement, he said he “got bored and had to find something exciting to do.”
He said, “somewhere along the way Spanish turned into my passion. When I finally came back home, I started taking classes. I actually started out with CCSF night classes.”
Deneui decided to become a teacher because he “has always loved working with people.” He also comes from a long line of teachers; his grandmother, father, and mother all taught at some point in their lives. He describes teaching as his “career V2.”
Deneui’s first-ever teaching job was just last semester at Archbishop Riordan High School, four blocks away from LWHS. Deneui joked, “the commute was so much worse. I had to go an extra two minutes. Horrible.”
Deneui said that LWHS is “an amazing place,” and that his favorite part of LWHS is the students. He said, “I’ve never had a school where I had to hide homework from students so they wouldn’t do it ahead of time. These students are really hard workers and are people that are focused on learning. It’s really, really fun to teach somebody who wants to learn.”
He also emphasized the unique school environment at LWHS, and said, “it is very impressive to me as an outsider to see all of the various programs that Lick has in place to foster a worldly and social-justice oriented community. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make all schools like this one.”
Deneui said that although his career at LWHS was always going to be temporary, “this is a really special place, and I would be very happy to come back.”
Deneui has big plans for after LWHS. He said, “my husband and I are expecting a baby September 1.”
