Mr. Garcia teaches history and social studies, and loves what he does.
Teacher Feature: Alex Garcia
Mr. Garcia found his passion for history and is sharing it with his students through his teaching
Alex Garcia is a history and philosophy teacher at Mead. He received his undergraduate degree in finance and philosophy at the University of Wisconsin in OshKosh. He earned his graduate degree in history at CU Boulder afterwards.
Like most students today, Garcia confesses he did not know what to study when he went into college. “I grew up in an area that really emphasized doing something practical so I went [the] business route. Philosophy I stumbled into as an elective and I really liked it… and so I switched later on,” he said.
He found a passion for teaching as a camp counselor in high school and college. Garcia was working toward receiving his PhD in History when he was offered a living stipend for teaching classes. “I just loved it and I didn’t keep going for my PhD. I decided to get a master’s and then get a teaching job,” Garcia said.
From there he started subbing and later taught preschool because he “always loved working with kids [—] playing games and dodgeball and teaching them”.
In high school he recounts his favorite class was home economics because he “was always hungry” and “really liked cooking”. Garcia took AP European History senior year and shared that it was his favorite academic class. He went on to teach AP European History, but the class is no longer offered.
Mr. Garcia upholds that student cell phone use and social media involvement is out of hand, sharing, “Phones drive me crazy. I’m so tired and sad, watching kids stare at their phone[s] all the time. I think you miss a lot of life… when you live it online.”
After the initial COVID-19 shutdowns mostly everyone had more appreciation for how important it was to be physically in school. Garcia strives to form a stronger learning environment where academic standards are high. He said, “Overall, I love Mead. I love the people I work with and I love my students… but I hope we can find a way to be more present together in class, to once again see learning in a classroom as a group experience rather than an individual task.”
Outside of school Mr. Garcia likes to read, go on jogs, and garden, although he keeps busy with his family. He has two little kids.
One of his favorite books is Sacred Economics by Charles Einstein.
When asked about his favorite part of teaching he said it’s talking to students because it “keeps [him] young”. He adds, “I remember a couple conversations I… had with teachers… my senior year that really helped shape my life.” He said in a way, building that relationship with students is why he loves teaching.
He also loves seeing students develop an interest in history. “When a person comes into history class and has no interest in it, and then all of a sudden says they may major in it, and they see why it’s important, that’s the goal,” he said. “So many people are going [into] engineering and math, and that’s great, but we need some people to know what happened in this world, too.”
The biggest advice he would give students is to travel. By whatever means necessary, he said “you need to experience other cultures, other languages, other foods, [and] other people”. He recommends studying abroad if at all possible.
Mr. Garcia’s last piece of advice is for students to find something passionate they’re about and immerse themselves in it. This proved successful for him as a teenager — he felt passionate about running and it became his focus.
Garcia said, “It’s just good to have that to come back to whenever things are tough… To have success in something… makes you happier.”