Teachers are there to connect with students through caring, help raise their self-confidence, and help focus on bettering their lives by giving them the skills to navigate any kind of space they enter.”

Adrian’s Story

Teaching Discipline

Biology

Why Biology

“I’ve been drawn to biology ever since I was young. My interest has always been towards animals, the environment, and their ecosystem. So when I entered undergrad, this led me to pursue biology as my major. I love learning about how ecosystems work and there is this natural balance to it. Looking through this from an evolutionary lens is also fascinating, just to see how organisms have adapted to survive and thrive in their environment.”

Professional Experience

As an undergraduate, Adrian spent three and a half weeks in Cameroon, Africa as a field-researcher. He spent about three weeks living in the Dja Rainforest with other students. His group’s research focused on the butterfly speciation/abundance with respect to gaps in the canopy. He worked with two UCLA professors, graduate students from Cameroon, and the indigenous Baka people of the rainforest.

Adrian worked as a residential advisor/counselor at an Upward-Bound program in the South Bay Area of Southern California. This program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in their precollege performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits. He participated in this program from the summer of 2015–2018. He also worked as a student tutor. Adrian concurrently worked with the Afrikan Student Union as a peer leader/tutor for an outreach program.

In graduate school, Adrian taught at the University of California, Los Angeles Community School and it was here where he saw restorative justice in action. Throughout the year, he held community circles with students and worked on building classroom community and rapport.

Adrian began teaching at South East High School during the 2018–2019 school year. There he helped start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and is the assistant coach for the school’s softball team.

Hobbies

Adrian enjoys watching Netflix and is passionate about the Marvel cinematic universe.

Academic Background

  • University of California, Los Angeles (Master of Education)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (Bachelor of Science in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution)