Marina High School biology teacher Christian Sousa says he is honored to receive the title of 'Best K-12 Teacher' from the Monterey County Weekly's Best of Monterey County 2021 awards.
For the second time in a row, Sousa was given the title on October 21, 2021 when the results were unveiled.
“I feel really honored to have received this recognition. I’m very surprised by it though because there’s so many amazing teachers that do so many amazing things, that I can’t believe that I am like the best teacher in Monterey County. Because there’s so many amazing teachers and they spend so much time and energy in their classes,” Sousa said.
The MCW Best of Monterey County awards are gathered through reader submissions and final nominees are eventually narrowed down.
Sousa says at the end of the day, he hopes his students walk away from his classroom with ways to apply his lessons to the real-world.
“I guess what I really hope what really sticks with my students is you know how biology just affects every aspect of their life. It's not just one of those content courses where you need to learn this because you need to learn it. It's really like around them all the time and it really affects all aspects of their life. So I really try to convey that in the classroom,” Sousa said.
Sousa has been teaching for eight years. He started at Campbell Unified School District in San Jose, CA before moving to Marina High School where he's taught biology for the past six years.
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