A homegrown Bacoleño was recently selected 2022 Teacher of the Year of the Buckeye Elementary School District in Arizona, USA.
Alen Caldeo, a 1995 graduate of the Maranatha Christian College High School (MCCHS) in Bacolod City, received his award on May 3 at the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year celebration at the Sunset Auditorium of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.
Caldeo is Teacher of the Year of Inca Elementary School that belongs to the Buckeye Elementary School District where he teaches fourth grade and coaches the school’s basketball team.
He won the award for the district out of more than 260 teachers in its seven schools after undergoing various state-level evaluations in the past years.
Moreover, Caldeo was also honored on May 13 as a Passionate About Student Success (PASS) awardee of the same school district. The award is given to both teachers and students who have made an outstanding contribution to the district.
“I didn’t expect to win as I was competing against American teachers,” Caldeo said. “This is all because of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
An elementary education graduate of STI-West Negros University, he taught at Don Fernando F. Gonzaga Elementary School in Vista Alegre, Bacolod City for 12 years after passing the licensure exam for teachers.
In 2018, he was hired by the Arizona school district. He taught fifth grade for three years at Inca Elementary School. Certified to teach K-8, he now teaches in the fourth grade.
“My first two years of teaching were terrible,” Caldeo shared in a chat message to his former mentor and former president of Maranatha Christian College, Samuel Colinco Jr. “Everything I learned before was completely different,” he added.
“Outstanding” training from the district, however, helped him to improve as a teacher.
“I am so blessed to be trained and equipped by the district,” he said. “From the professional development to the curriculum set up for students, everything was outstanding. All of this has a huge chunk in my success.”
“None of this is worth bragging about without the surpassing knowledge of Christ,” the former deacon of Maranatha Baptist Church in Bacolod City and graduate of its Maranatha Baptist Bible College, pointed out.
“I am teaching passionately in the name of Christ,” he explained. “I am not allowed to share the gospel (in the school), but I am living it.”
He said that he works hard every day with Christ as his motivation.
“Nothing can keep me from doing my best for my students,” he added. “They all love me.” Caldeo teaches Mathematics, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Starting in the current school year, he said that they have been conducting in-person classes. “Even if the kids have CoViD, teachers continue to go to school,” he informed.
He acknowledges the role of his wife, Almira, his high school classmate and sweetheart at Maranatha Christian College High School, in his success.
“Thanks to my wonderful wife for pushing me to give my best,” he enthused.
While still in Bacolod City, Caldeo had served for many years as the first MCCHS alumnus on the Maranatha Christian College Board of Trustees. – NWI
