Teaching gave me something I hadn’t experienced in any other job, true satisfaction. Each day I was presented with new challenges. I knew right away that this was the career for me.”

Christopher’s Story

Christopher Parchert’s decision to become a teacher did not occur in one pivotal moment, but was a gradual process that began during his junior year of college. It was then that he learned of the critical need for teachers of mathematics, a subject he thoroughly enjoyed. Once he realized how much he enjoyed helping his classmates with their assignments, Christopher became a volunteer tutor. After graduation, he worked as an electrical engineer for a defense contractor while continuing to tutor. It all “clicked” when Christopher began to see tutoring as the best part of his week. He quit engineering and decided to become a teacher.

Christopher graduated from Eldorado High School in Albuquerque before pursuing an electrical engineering degree at the University of New Mexico where he received a scholarship for his research on the brain activity of schizophrenic patients. He interned at Sandia National Laboratories monitoring the effects of radiological weapons and aiding in the design and construction of fire sets for explosives testing.

Christopher has three aunts, an uncle and a grandfather who all work or worked as teachers and principals. As a teacher in his hometown of Albuquerque, he can pursue his a passion for giving back to his community. “The city provided me with so many educational opportunities growing up.”