Mr. Nelson
Kevin Nelson teaches Government and Economics.
Is there an experience or event that shaped why you wanted to be a teacher?
I used to take students to Europe during the summer. I actually went on Europe trip as a high school senior and then started working for the same company as a college student and really enjoyed everything about it. I loved the lifestyle, I loved teaching, so that’s what brought me in.
Did you receive a yearbook superlative when you were at Aragon?
I was most spirited. I was pretty vocal, and a leader on campus.
What do you like most about teaching?
Getting students to achieve above what they thought they could ever do. Opening doors that they can go out into life and do anything they want to do and watching students actually do it and come back. That’s been the biggest thing.
What is a specific experience you had while teaching that really spoke to you?
I had a student who didn’t graduate high school and is now a multimillionaire in Silicon Valley and just said, ‘High School wasn’t for me but you completely supported me in everything I did and believed in me.’ I’ve had kids come back and say that kind of thing all the time.
Mr. Labrum
Steven Labrum teaches Special Ed.
What is one of your most embarrassing moments in your life so far?
I was riding my bike, when I was in high school, and I was riding my bike down the hill and I came down too fast and instead I kind of wiped out in front of everybody. I kind of just had to pick myself up and I skinned my knee pretty bad and I probably needed get some Band-Aids or whatever, so I had to get back on my bike and keep going, which is kind of a metaphor for life to just get back on the bike and keep on peddling.
What is the most difficult or discouraging part about being a teacher?
Not being able to show students the future or not being able to show them that this is what it’s going to be like in ten years and perhaps if I was able to do that it would be a different kind of motivation. I think that’s the most frustrating part.
Do you have any unique interests outside of school?
I like to DJ. I really like electronic dance music, and I’m kind of learning to DJ, so I’m not making hundreds of thousands of dollars or anything, and I like to travel.
Ms. Ho
Josephine Ho is a freshman and sophomore counselor.
What is your most rewarding story of your time as a counselor?
I was walking in Target at Colma and a kid goes, “Ms. Ho!” And I looked and said “Oh my goodness,”… She was a freshman at Galileo [High School] and she came in like she came from the School of Hard Knocks [a phrase that suggests life lessons should be given at least as much merit as those learnt from formal education] and felt that she was too good for school, that she didn’t need school. She was running with an older crowd, possibly gang related, and her mom came in probably once a week to school saying, “I can’t get her to go to school,” and then basically giving up her freshman year saying, “If she doesn’t want to go to school, what am I going to do.”
Long story short, [when I see her in Target] she tells me that she just passed her license to be a nurse and she says, “Thank you so much for everything,” and that she still remembers me trying to help her, trying to set her straight. She realized later how education was important and did her two years at city college to be a nurse.
Describe your perfect day.
That would probably be my Sunday mornings where my kids wake up and climb into bed with us and we just do family snuggling time and if it starts out with that and not with a tantrum, it’s an awesome day.
Sr. Prado
Jaime Prado teaches Spanish III and Spanish III for native speakers.
What did you think of teachers when you were a high schooler and how has becoming one changed your opinion.?
I did have several teachers that I had good relationships with and made me feel successful. One of them was my photography teacher. I was one of the advanced students and he encouraged me to do my own projects, and photography is something I continued to do through college and afterward. Another teacher encouraged me to take leadership roles and so I became the chairperson of my high school’s Latino student group and in a way that is a part of what I teach now.
If you could only give one piece of advice to a student, what would it be?
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, that’s how you learn Spanish too. It’s my first language, but to be at the level at which I am… just using it in different ways in my life… it’s like the saying ‘Echando a perder se aprende,’ which means spoiling is how you learn.
What is one thing you cannot live without?
My daughter.
