Joseph Alvarico

Mr. Alvarico is a proud Filipino immigrant who passionately believes that education is a way out of poverty. Realizing the transformative power of education for himself, he chose to teach in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area in order to share that opportunity with others. To this end, Mr. Alvarico is dedicated to his students’ development and to building strong positive relationships with them, which he sees as “pivotal to providing the best education.” He makes it a priority to get to know each student on a personal level, valuing their opinions, and embracing their individuality by also valuing their cultural backgrounds and skill sets.

Joseph defines himself as creative, a risk taker, and an innovator who implements novel strategies in the classroom. He describes a typical day in his classroom as a harmonious blend of enthusiasm, engagement, and meaningful learning experiences. Imagine the engagement of students in his Intro to Engineering Design class when given the task of constructing an automaton, a toy with a crank that causes characters to move up and down or rotate around a vertical axis. Many of their designs initially have flaws, requiring them to diagnose issues and devise solutions, but most are successful after students persevere through challenges and devise new solutions. Ultimately, students direct their own learning through collaborating, thinking critically and evaluating their own performance.

As a middle school yearbook advisor for three years, Mr. Alvarico saw how student leadership and community building can create an atmosphere of trust and safety in the classroom, allowing all students to thrive as individuals and contribute to the group effort. This realization helped contribute to his building of a community of collaborative, innovative, critical thinkers in an academically rigorous robotics program that he leads on his high school campus.

Helping students gain access to transformative opportunities and take steps towards realizing their goals is extremely fulfilling for Joseph. To facilitate this, he connects his students with field engineers, project managers, and engineering department directors in fields such as chemical, civil, environmental, nuclear and aerospace engineering, through his collaboration with his district’s Career Pathways coordinators.

Mr. Alvarico believes that, “What sets me apart as a teacher is my enthusiasm for fostering connections with my students and the local community, as well as my determination to offer students access to meaningful, life-altering experiences.”