Brandon Meis ’27

Mr. Piatkiewicz in his classroom next to his copy of the US constitution.

Mr. Piatkiewicz is one of SHC’s most beloved teachers, known for his energetic personality and hilarious ways of explaining history to students. His open and adventurous mindset sets him apart from others.

His journey to teaching has been a long road. Growing up in South Manchester or “the Pacific Heights of Manchester,” Mr. P came from a Polish family who fled to England after WWII. Though he grew up privileged, he did not “forget his roots”, and this was ingrained in his childhood as he lived “very close to both sets of grandparents”, frequently visiting them all.

Mr.Piatkiewicz grew up playing Football (soccer) and Rugby. These sports “shaped him” to be a tougher person and taught him lessons about life and making friends, as they are “big social sports.”

 These hard-learned lessons have also shown up in his teaching career. Mr. Piatkiewicz started his career at St. Matthew’s High School in Manchester, England, where he “taught the murderers and the people that every week you’d read in a newspaper”. This job significantly impacted his career as he discovered ways to work with and build relationships with students to make everyone feel comfortable and excited to learn in his class. 

After many memorable and important experiences in England, he found his way to SHC. But his path was not without challenges. He met his future ex-wife in Vegas and after long-distance dating, decided to move to West Hayward on a 90-day visa, joking it was like “90 Day Fiance”. They “decided to do it because we wanted to take a chance rather than not give it a go and wonder what happened.” This visa allowed him to stay in the country; however, after the marriage did not work out, he risked losing his ability to be here because green cards required longer marriages. Nevertheless, immigration granted him a green card, which led him to move to San Francisco.

Coming to San Francisco forced Mr. Piatkiewicz to adapt to American culture, especially in schools. He accepted a job at a middle school, where he witnessed the cultural differences between the US and UK. In school, he was used to being called “Sir” and everyone following a strict uniform; then, his new middle schoolers were calling him Mr. P in colorful minecraft sweatshirts. Mr. Piatkiewicz wanted a new challenge and saw an ad for a job here and “after days of pestering Ms. O’Neill”, obtained an interview and eventually an offer.

Mr. Piatkiewicz’s path from Manchester to San Francisco reflects his tenacious and humorous personality. He reminds students that risk and growth go hand in hand, saying, “Give something a try, and there’s nothing wrong with failing at something as long as you learn from the mistakes.—There’s no such thing as a bad decision. The worst thing is if you make no decision.”