After 35 years at Alisal, AP English and yearbook teacher Mick Battaglini is riding off into the sunset into retirement. The 2025-2026 school year marks his final year, and ends his career on the 60th yearbook. 

Following graduation from Carmel High School in 1983, Battaglini attended UC Santa Barbara for one year. He then transferred to Hartnell for two years and it was there that he played basketball and met his wife. Once his two years at Hartnell were up, Battaglini transferred to Chico State, graduating in 1989 with a BA in English. 

Upon receiving his BA from Chico State, Battaglini returned to Salinas and got his first teaching position at Salinas High. He was hired as part of the CO-OP program, which would allow him to get a feel of what teaching is like. “It was a program where I could teach two classes a day and get paid $500 a month, while I worked on my credential,” he said. 

The program ended after a year, but Battaglini still needed to do student teaching. Unable to afford working for free, he began subbing.

At the end of 1st semester, the state decided to reduce the size of freshman English classes, so more English teacher positions opened up, giving Battaglini the opportunity he needed to finish up his student teaching. “I got hired at North High and got to take care of my student teaching while I got paid,” he said.

The following year he began teaching at Alisal in the fall of 1991. When he first started teaching, he taught four classes of ESL 2 and one junior English class. 

Prior to securing a teaching position, Battaglini had subbed at Alisal and enjoyed it, so it was nice to be somewhere he was already familiar with. “I had subbed here the year before and I always liked it,” he said. 

After the first year, he moved into the English department fulltime and the rest is history.

Having taught for over three decades, Battaglini has taught from freshman to senior level English classes. “I really enjoyed teaching seniors when the focus was on British Literature,” he said. “As well as the relationships from the students who made it four years.” 

He has been predominately a junior English teacher, and he has consistently taught AP English Language and Composition for the past 27 years, beginning in 1999. 

Later on, he became a reader for the AP exam between 2015 and 2024. “It was a tremendous opportunity to score the essays,” he said, “I really learned a lot that I tried to impart to my students.”

Beyond the classroom, Battaglini coached boys’ freshman basketball for two years. Then he was tasked with coaching girls’ varsity basketball. “Coaching girls was not my dream,” he said. “Varsity boys’ coach was my dream, but I came to love coaching girls’ basketball.” 

Battaglini started working with the girls’ team in 1993. The team had won one game that previous year, “We had nowhere to go but up,” he said. “We won 3 games that first year, including our first win ever over Notre Dame, who won league.”

Though he never did become the boys’ varsity basketball coach, Battaglini holds the record for the longest time spent as the girls’ varsity coach at Alisal (22 years). 

During his time as the girls’ varsity basketball coach, the girls won two league titles in 1997 and 2005. “We won the first championship in school history, that was huge, and that was within 4 years,” he said. “I had a five year plan to make playoffs, win league, and we did it sooner.” 

In 2005, the team was undefeated. “We became a solid program,” he said. “We were respected whereas prior to that, we weren’t.” 

He made the decision to retire from coaching after his JV coach had a stroke and decided it was time for him to step away from coaching. “It seemed fitting that we came in together and we would leave together,” he said.

Besides academics and sports, Battaglini has also had a huge impact on the school’s culture by teaching the journalism/yearbook classes. In 1998, the principal at the time, Candy McCarthy, approached Battaglini asking if he was interested in running the student newspaper. Despite not having any experience working on the newspaper, he agreed and began overseeing it. 

A couple of years later, the yearbook adviser quit and someone needed to take over the position. “I did not want to do it,” Battaglini said. He knew it would be a lot of work and he didn’t know the first thing about making a yearbook. Nonetheless, he eventually agreed to do it and has been the yearbook advisor since 2004.

The first year Battaglini was in charge of both journalism and yearbook they were separate classes. The following year they combined and it’s been like that ever since. “I really came to love yearbook,” he said. “It can be very frustrating, but at the same time it’s very cool to hold the finished product.” 

Battaglini’s impact on Alisal is undeniable. Recognizing his work as a teacher, coach, and yearbook advisor could not be done without acknowledging the impact he’s had on his students. “He is seriously my favorite teacher to go to everyday,” junior and second year returner Karlo Rodriguez said. “I really wish he could stick around for one more year, but I understand he’s been wanting to retire for a bit and he deserves it.” 

The decision to retire was not an easy one to make. His father in law recently passed, leaving his mother in law with the responsibility of organizing and selling off their antiques. Battaglini and his wife have decided to step in and help her, which, coupled with some other things, led to this being his last year as he wouldn’t be able to help his wife and mother in law if he was still teaching full time. 

Though he looks forward to less stress, having the liberty to do things when he wants to do them, and spending time with his family, Battaglini has spent a good portion of his life teaching. 

Retirement means adjusting to life without the familiarity and routine of his career as a teacher. “I’ll miss the relationships most of all,” he said. “Just being able to connect with people, making a very cool thing [the yearbook].” 

On a personal note,

While saying goodbye is never easy and the yearbook staff will miss Battaglini a lot, his farewell is a bittersweet one. 

Regardless of how long one of the staff members has worked with him, he’s had a lasting impact on all of us and we wish him a happy retirement. 

As for the returners, we’re sad to see him go but we’re confident he’s taught us everything we need to know to make another great yearbook. We just hope we can continue his legacy and make him proud. “It’s not just the work but losing a valuable person to our community,” senior and third year returner Areli Colin said. “I just hope he’s happy and that he can keep collecting comic books and action figures.”