Joshua Hunter
District 3 Director - Joshua Hunter
Biographical Information
My mother (a retired Kindergarten educator) and grandmother (a retired Special Education educator and Principal) were my catalysts for becoming a teacher. I knew that I wanted a career in education as soon as I stepped foot into my mom's classroom, referring to her as "Mrs. Hunter" instead of "Mom." At age five, I recreated her classroom in my bedroom and held imaginary class every day using discarded reading textbooks. I had my own seasonal learning bulletin boards with leaf numbers and snowflake colors and even inflatable letter people so that I could closely emulate mom's teaching to make sure that my students were learning as much as I was in her class! Under her tutelage throughout the years, my passion for the education field deepened. I enjoyed lights in the eyes of my "students" when I tutored peers in high school and college in mathematics, writing, and science. I started to fully understand that the rewards associated with teaching were deeper than planning innovative lessons and creating learning games. There was no other option but to follow my soul and become a teacher. I realized that in this career, I could change lives and make the world a better place for us all! I consider my greatest educational accomplishment to be making a positive difference in the lives of all of my students. From having a student whose face was permanently scarred in the shape of an iron (as a result of physical abuse) return to me as an adult and thank me with tears for the intervention I initiated that (unbeknownst to me) prevented her from committing suicide... To having another former student return to me exclaiming that he was so passionate about becoming an engineer after working with an engineering mentor in a Magnet elective class that he is in the process of becoming one... To watching a room full of students' eyes swell with tears while Skyping with the Manager of our local Lens Crafters store as she visited rural Mexico and distributed the used eyeglasses we had collected and given to her in a project-based service learning activity in our Odyssey of the Mind Magnet elective class. Making a positive difference in the lives of our students and to empower them to make a positive difference in the world is the most important educational accomplishment any educator can make!
Mission Statement
To support problem-based and future-focused educational experiences for our students, helping them read, write, think, and act like scientists.
