Mr. Zustin is undoubtedly one of Hudson High School’s most well-known teachers. Even if you’ve never had him as a teacher, you’ve definitely heard of him (or heard him shouting in his classroom from the opposite end of the history wing).
Mr. Zustin’s high school experience was described as being a “10 out of 10,” his interests being “sports, girls and getting in trouble; in that order.” He was just along for the ride and having a good time, with little to no concern for college and future plans. He recalled being extremely social and always wanting to be present at all of the school events. “We had this loyalty and nostalgic connection to each other growing up in the country and pride. We’d always wear Louisville gear to school and go to all the sporting events.” They had a student section for nearly every single game of both boys and girls sports.
In Zustin’s freshman year of college he started as a sports management major, only to realize that wasn’t the career choice for him. He finished his freshman year just focusing on completing core classes.
It wasn’t until his sophomore year of college that he realized he wanted to go into education. So, he majored in history. When he came to Hudson, the only openings were AP Psychology and Sociology. “Which just so happened to be my all time worst subject while I was in college. My two worst grades in all of college”. His teaching license allows him to teach any social studies class.
Still, he took on the job and read through the entirety of the psychology and sociology books. “Now, I actually really enjoy it, which is odd because my grandpa,who I used to butt heads with, always told me psychology is the best subject there is. He drove me nuts; he was a know-it-all, but he was right.”
Zustin also has vast experience traveling. The first time he ventured out of the country was the summer of 2012 when he backpacked through Europe with his buddy Shrek. “That’s when I had the money, before that I would just jump on buses and be all over the United States. But you don’t really travel until you’ve been out of the country.” In total, he’s been to 36 states and more countries than he can keep track. One time, he took a bus through the entire east coast. “It was pretty wild, pretty cool…pretty fun.”
His favorite places he’s ever been to were Iceland and Thailand. “I have to go back, like I want to go to Iceland and my wife can just relax with some friends and I can go hiking for 2 days and sleep outside. That’s how much I love it.” Somewhere he hasn’t been yet, but is dying to go, is Antarctica. “The reason why is there’s only one world, so like how many people actually get to set foot on Antarctica, if I could go to Antarctica I will make it to all seven continents. Australia is me and my wife’s retirement trip.” He mentioned he would also like to visit the southern point of South America.
A place he has no interest in visiting is the Middle East. “I just don’t like the politics of it.” He went on to say he is a firm advocate for separation of church and state. One place he would never return to was Siciliy, Italy and the northern part of South America, they simply don’t have the same pull on him as Iceland and Thailand.
Many people view international travel as scary and dangerous. However Zustin, who is extremely well-traveled, vouches that “travel is dangerous and not dangerous anywhere in the world…unless you get yourself into weird situations and are looking for the wrong things, I guess you can find trouble…you have just as much of a chance getting trouble in Cleveland than you do anywhere else.” He goes on to say, “Overall safety, there’s no guns in other countries, so you can feel however you want about guns, but if someone comes up to on the street who doesn’t have a gun, I can defend myself…I have a chance.” So, don’t let concerns of safety in other countries keep you from international travel, as long as you’re smart, you’ll be fine.
His favorite travel memory was a time he went to a club in Thailand. “It was awesome, we had a blast, we danced all night, the sun was coming up, we didn’t even know what time it was”. Zustin. his friends, and their waitresses from earlier in the evening went and got the best street food for only 24 dollars to feed over 10 people. The vendor eventually tried marrying her daughter off to him and his friends. “It was the best meal I’ve ever had in my life…I gave her 40 dollars and she got down and started kissing my hands and I was like ‘don’t worry about it’… A buddhist monk came by and people that believe in that religion will go up to them and give them food. They’ll bend down and they’ll pray to their feet because the feet represent the bottom of the soul and the head represents the highest of the god, when you take your head and put it to their feet it’s saying the best of me is the worst of you”.
The experience of traveling the world has made Mr. Zustin who he is. “If I didn’t travel the world I would not be who I am. I would not have a perspective, I feel like I would be missing part of my soul”. He went on to say at this point in his life, however, he is ready to travel less and settle more at home. “You get to a point in your life where it’s an insatiable need and you have to react to it, you have to feed it, or you’re not living. If you don’t feed it you’re going to be living in a cul-de-sac thinking about how bad your life is…if you don’t feed that, then what’s the point of living?”. He notes that traveling taught him how to live and gives us the advice “you got one life dude, live! Do fun things!”.
His experience with world travel has also given him the perspective that people are nice all over the world, and it teaches people how to better themselves and treat others. “I heard this quote once ‘I’ve never met a well-traveled bigot’ and its always stuck with me in a sense that’s like anyone who has traveled the world is more understanding and a better person and they understand life is not easy and that if we can help each other along the way it’s going to make it all better”. The United States alone does not substitute for what one can get from numerous places internationally. “The nicest people I’ve ever met are in Africa, and they live in huts with dirt floors and manure walls, and they’re the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life.
When it comes to being a social studies teacher, Zustin’s background with travel has strengthened him in his career. “I deal with human beings everyday, in my opinion I think teaching is about connecting with a human being. You’ll go to college, you’ll see these professors who are brilliant, but that’s not the art of teaching, that’s the art of knowing…in highschool it’s about growing together…evolving together. Traveling to me, when you understand human nature and being around people internationally it’s going to allow you to serve your students better”. He also notes that he’s been able to integrate his stories from travel into his lessons, which is incredibly interesting and captivating for students.
As a teacher, his fears drive him more than his goals do. “I never want to sit in this chair and act like I don’t know what I’m doing…if that ever happens I’m terrified”. His first year of teaching, he had a student that indirectly called him a loser and after that he was putting in hours late in the night to better himself and avoid the possibility of other students thinking that. “I never want to become stale, I never want to not like my job, I never want to not care about kids. The day I don’t care about kids is the day I quit…I don’t ever want to lose my drive, the burning fire inside”. Anyone who has had Mr. Zustin as a teacher or a coach can vouch that he is one of the most driven, enthusiastic, uplifting teachers at Hudson. He has made it clear on a day-to-day basis that he loves what he does as a teacher and offers a fantastic education experience to every student that walks through the doors of classroom A211.
