Christopher Poulos, '97, Named Connecticut Teacher of the Year

To be recognized as the best in your field inspires both awe and humility, as Christopher Poulos, ’97, can attest. Students, teachers, administrators and family members gave Poulos, a Spanish teacher at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Conn., a standing ovation at a November assembly when it was announced he had been named Connecticut’s 2007 Teacher of the Year from among a pool of more than 48,000 teachers statewide.  

Although he can’t imagine a career outside the teaching profession now, Poulos entered teaching through the back door. He majored in leadership studies and minored in Spanish and business and planned to pursue a career in politics or business.   

But after completing his Jepson internship in the Capitol Hill offices of Congressman David Dreier, R-Calif., and Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., Poulos began to question his career goals. “I realized I didn’t want to be a bureaucrat,” he said, “although I did want to be involved in public service.”  

So Poulos entered the Peace Corps following graduation with the idea of serving for a couple of years before returning to the United States to take up a career in politics or business. He received an assignment in Guanja-Talgua, Honduras, a village of 400 with no electricity and few homes with running water in the eastern municipality of Catacamas, Olancho. The eye-opening experience changed his perspective on life, Poulos said.  

Poulos marveled at the hospitality the Honduran villagers heaped on him. “An annual income of $800 for a family of 10 was not unusual,” Poulos said. “Yet families would insist I come into their homes for a meal so they could talk to me and learn about me.” The villagers’ sincerity touched him, he said.   

After spending 27 months with the Peace Corps in Honduras, Poulos returned to the United States set on becoming a teacher. “I wanted to recreate that level of sincerity I had encountered in Honduras,” Poulos said, “and I realized I could do that in a classroom.”  

He entered the eight-week Alternate Route to Certification Program, a method of certification Connecticut adopted to help people transition from other occupations into the teaching profession. In fall 2000 he began teaching at Joel Barlow High School while simultaneously completing a master’s degree in Spanish from the Teacher’s College of Columbia University.  

Poulos draws on both his Jepson and Peace Corps experiences in crafting an innovative, experiential teaching methodology. Although he studied Spanish in high school and college, he only developed fluency in the language as a result of his immersion experience in Honduras, he said. He tries to give his students a similar immersion experience by speaking Spanish exclusively in the classroom and incorporating as much Spanish and Hispanic culture in his lessons as possible. 

Poulos also incorporates experiential education—which he came to appreciate while a student at Jepson—in his teaching. For example, his seniors must design and implement a project based on their interests and involving 30 hours of direct contact with Spanish-speaking people, many of whom live in nearby Bridgeport and Danbury, Conn.  

Senior projects, which can be paid or unpaid, have included translating for Hispanic patients at area hospitals and medical clinics, joining a Hispanic church choir and translating for a law firm that does pro bono work for battered Hispanic women. “The idea is to recreate a mini Peace Corps experience,” Poulos said.  

“Redding [the Connecticut town where Poulos teaches] is a New York City suburb, a well-to-do community where the children are not exposed to much diversity,” Poulos said. “By engaging in this type of community project, students not only learn Spanish, they also learn the value of service. Every teacher thinks his subject is the end all, but ultimately I want to teach students to be good citizens involved in their community.” 

His efforts, long applauded by his colleagues and students alike, received official validation when the state of Connecticut named him Teacher of the Year. Soon Poulos and his wife, Helen Mills Poulos, who met Poulos while volunteering in the Peace Corps, will be celebrating more good news: the birth of their first child, a daughter, due this month.

Life couldn’t be better.  

Written by Cassie Price