STHS Asst. Principal Dennis Sarosik retiring after 34 years with LTUSD

Enjoying a nice, quiet and boring life is what Dennis Sarosik is looking forward to after wrapping up his 34 year career with the Lake Tahoe Unified School District next month. "I'm going to make every day a Saturday and a Sunday," Sarosik said.

When asked what he'd like to be remembered for, Sarosik quickly answered. "My signature experience was working with Yvonne Larson on bringing Sports Medicine to the school." He said that seeing the new department function as it is today is "beyond cool."

"We have a great Sports Medicine teacher and the kids are happy," said Sarosik. "I had no idea it'd be this big!"

In August, when the rest of the STHS staff and students head back to school, Dennis said he'd be riding his bike, stopping at Raley's and cooking dinner.

Many local dancers may know Dennis as "Mr. Marcia," referring to his wife who runs the Marcia Sarosik Dance Studio. He said they're staying in town since they can't put wheels on the studio.

The couple ended up in Tahoe much as many other people....by accident. Dennis and Marcia were driving across the country to visit a cousin in San Francisco. They stopped at a motel in Wendover, NV and were preparing to head west after a night's sleep. Dennis was leaning against his car, waiting on Marcia, and a man who was staying in the room next door was doing the same, waiting on his wife. The man noticed the Michigan plates on the Sarosik car and asked where they were heading. Dennis answered San Francisco and the other man said that they needed to stop in Lake Tahoe on the way. Dennis told him that it wasn't winter and asked what do people do in Lake Tahoe in the summer? "Oh, you're so close, you must stop," was the answer.

"I got here because women take longer to get ready," Dennis joked.

Dennis and Marcia stopped in South Lake Tahoe during that trip in 1979, and the rest is history. Armed with degrees from Wayne State and the University of Detroit, LTUSD hired him as a special education teacher, beating out Reno and Carson City.

Sarosik taught Special Ed at Sierra House, Tahoe Valley, what was then Meyers Elementary and South Tahoe High before going into administration.