Every teacher, from kindergarten to college, has a unique story to tell about how they found their calling as educators. In the nucleus of OHS’ algebra program is Phoenix native and seasoned math teacher, Kellen Chavez, who has also taken a unique path. While Chavez is known for teaching math and coaching cross country, he initially wanted to be a sports journalist, graduating from ASU with a journalism degree in 2007.
“The ultimate dream job for me in college, why I chose journalism, would’ve been to be a sports columnist,” Chavez said.
However, he never got to ‘give it a go’ as he was not a part of State Press, ASU’s student-led newspaper.
“I had a one-week position part-time there [at the State Press], [but by] the first deadline I got an internship with [a] police agency [Arizona Department of Public Safety]; It was paid, so I did that,” Chavez said.
Chavez had a litany of journalism-related jobs at Arizona DPS, although none achieved the dream of sports writing.
“I’d help them with press releases, planning press conferences; I’d write features for stuff within that police agency,” Chavez said.
The nearest Chavez got to writing a sports article was when State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, first opened.
“They [DPS] were in charge of security at the football stadium…that’s the closest I ever came to writing a sports story, was writing about the actual police security that DPS provides at Cardinals games,” Chavez said.
However, the ‘journalistic process’ ended up not being the right path for him,as the steps to writing an article can be quite strenuous.
“Chasing stories is a little stressful when you have to come up with ideas, and you have to go interview people and put everything together; that sort of chase,” Chavez said, “some people love it, that’s what they live for, but for me, that was a little much.”
While working as a PIO, Chavez was also employed part-time as a personal trainer after becoming heavily involved in fitness, and made connections that altered his career path. The decision to pursue a degree in education was influenced by those connections.
“I had clients…who I’m still really close with, who were community college professors, [and] my mom was a teacher, so I’ve always been around education growing up, and I was around people [in education] at a crossroads in my late 20’s,” Chavez said.
Going back to college proved to him the importance of one’s younger years and setting up your future.
“What you choose to do there [late teens to 20’s] is largely going to set your path for your career,” Chavez said.
Although Chavez was always good at math, he was not ready to pursue a career in it while in college or high school.
“In another lifetime, maybe I [will] end up an engineer, but in college I didn’t enjoy applying math skills to sciences,” Chavez said.
Chavez earned his master’s degree in secondary education from GCU in 2016 and has taught at OHS ever since, now enjoying what he can inspire students academically.
“There’s actually not much that I’ve experienced that’s more rewarding than kids wanting to learn, pushing themselves, making connections [mathematically] that I don’t necessarily show,” Chavez said.
Teaching and coaching share places in Chavez’s heart. Chavez is an experienced runner specializing in long-distance running, and initially got into it as a way to stay healthy and set goals. Even though he does not run competitively, he loves seeing improvement in himself, his students, and his athletes alike.
“I find joy in the process of improving, and doing something that, over the long-haul, [I] can get better at for the sake of getting better at it,” Chavez said, “and having kids give that a try and find reward in that, is a skill that can translate into a mentality that can drive so many other things in life.”
