Mr. Hardy's Obituary

Mr. Hardy’s impact on Sonora will be broken down into two writing pieces; part of his legacy will be written in the form of an obituary and the other part as a documentation of Hardy’s impact on Sonora.

 

Steve Hardy’s Obituary

 

Age 46, Steve Hardy was weeping and sobbing when he left our world on March 12, 2021, after departing from Sonora High School.

 

Mr. Hardy will be dearly missed by his loving students: his ASB students, his math students, and all of SOHS. His brothers, Mr. Avendano and Mr. D’Amelia will forever remember Mr. Hardy as a part of the family, and the legacy he has left behind. Mrs. Hardy, who has been “seen in his Zooms,” longingly remembers her husband. 

 

Our two-time “Teacher of the Year” has formed ASB into what it is now and fostered a loving and endearing environment within Sonora. In charge of inspiring a passion for learning, Mr. Hardy would treat each student kindly and had a magical charm that would cause all teachers and students to love him. 

 

An ASB student reminisces about Hardy, saying: “I remembered when he was breathing… in the halls of Sonora.” Another reports that “Sonora just won’t be the same without Hardy” and that she’s not sure whether “he’s in a better place” because “there’s no happier place than Sonora.” One last student reflects back on better times, grieving that he is “gone but never forgotten.” 

 

Thus, his legacy lives on through the spirit of Sonora, as his ASB class continues onwards with his essence. Raiders will maintain his jovial and heartwarming attitude and continue to pass on his sincerity to those he did not have an opportunity to reach. 

 

Hardy was a great man, who would want to be remembered not as someone who left Sonora, rather tragically, and admittedly without much notice, but rather as someone who made his students laugh and love learning. Alas, Mission Viejo now calls for his name, and those remaining at Sonora will love him forever.

 

Hardy’s Time at Sonora: Polishing the Stars

 

Mr. Hardy, once a special education teacher, would grow alongside Sonora High School, experiencing the leadership of three different principals during his time at the school. After developing a friendship with Mrs. Viveros, he started participating in Dancing with the Staff, overall becoming more involved with the campus. He soon began helping run the IMPACT club with Mrs. Viveros and eventually “got suckered” into running ASB for Sonora. Funnily enough, he would get married in the same year, when his wedding would come in conflict with his first workday! He would introduce the event “morp,” or reverse prom, to the school: a more casual event that would be the opposite of prom. In his time with Sonora, dances that would normally have 1500 students would grow to have 2500 students, and in his eleven years of ASB, there would be countless rallies and 37 assemblies that he organized. He pushed for clubs, formalizing their presence and making them a greater part of Sonora. He made Mr. Sonora more popular than it ever was, while also developing a more diverse community within ASB. He was with Sonora when they won the basketball and water polo CIFs and witnessed the construction of our revolutionary gym that all other FJUHSD schools admire. On his final day teaching at Sonora, he organized the Teacher of the Year Rally, of which he had previously been awarded twice. Hardy is a teacher that believes in fostering goodness and stands true to this belief when he inspires ASB to “polish the stars”-- to shine with our ideas and the greatness that all people have.

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Additionally, this ASB teacher has taught many different classes and is undoubtedly proud of each of his students. But he takes the most pride in “watching students go [and] become people.” He tells me that his greatest honor is becoming “part of your story,” in being part of his students’ lives. And for this, Hardy, I hope to fulfill your pride. You told me you love “seeing students going to be part of the world,” and I promise to go see the world with you in mind. 

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Finally, I would like to say one last thank you. Thank you for leading me throughout Sonora, for checking up on me, not as a student but as a person. Thank you for treating students not like statistics and letter grades, but as emotional and capable people. Beyond representing the school or the school newspaper, beyond being the ASB president or a representative from Sonora, I thank you for inspiring me to be a better human being. You were a wonderful part of my story, and I hope I was a wonderful part of yours.

-Michael Yamaguchi