Javier Espinal-Perez
MPUSD Alumnus Javier Espinal-Perez Returns to the Classroom as a Future Teacher
For Javier Espinal-Perez, becoming a teacher is about more than academics. It is about making students feel seen, supported and capable of achieving more than they ever imagined.
Now a student teacher at the Dual Language Academy of the Monterey Peninsula, Espinal-Perez is building his career in the same school district that helped shape his educational journey. Through the ALDER Graduate School of Education Teacher Residency Program, he is gaining hands-on classroom experience while preparing to make a lasting difference for the next generation of students.
His path to teaching began with a personal milestone. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Espinal-Perez became a father. Reflecting on the kind of impact he wanted to have on his daughter's life led him to think about the educators who had influenced his own.
As a student, Espinal-Perez shares he struggled academically before eventually achieving a 4.0 GPA in high school. He credits that transformation not only to what he learned in the classroom, but also to the relationships he developed with teachers who believed in him.
“I went from a low GPA grade student to eventually achieving a 4.0 GPA,” he said. “And that wasn't just due to academics or the content knowledge that I learned, but also the relationships I built with my teachers along the way, which made a huge difference.”
Those experiences helped him recognize the power educators have to change a student's trajectory.
After initially pursuing sports medicine in college, Espinal-Perez began working with Community Partnership for Youth, a nonprofit organization that supports young people in the Monterey Peninsula community. The experience helped him discover a passion for working with children and encouraged him to consider a career in education.
He went on to earn his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in 2024. Following a year of building his skills and working with mentors, he began the ALDER program, which is helping him develop the knowledge and experience needed to become a credentialed teacher.
Espinal-Perez's story is deeply connected to MPUSD. His educational journey began at Highland Elementary, the campus now home to DLAMP. He later attended Marina Del Mar, Marina Vista and Los Arboles before graduating from Monterey High School.
Along the way, he encountered educators who helped him see his own potential, including Sarah Hudson, who was his kindergarten teacher at Highland, later became an assistant principal at Los Arboles and now serves as his program director through ALDER.
At Monterey High, Espinal-Perez said, teachers recognized that his behavioral challenges did not define him. Rather than focusing solely on his struggles, they provided the support and motivation he needed to grow.
“They met me at my level. They separated the behavior and the student, and they saw, okay, this kid, you know, he could use some extra support,” he said. “And they gave me that help. They gave me that motivation to really see something in myself that I didn't see before.”
That lesson now shapes his approach to teaching.
At DLAMP, Espinal-Perez works alongside mentor teacher Ashley Pereira, co-teaching seventh- and eighth-grade science and English language arts. He also supports students in other areas, including photography and English Language Development.
The partnership allows him to put what he learns through ALDER into practice while receiving guidance from an experienced educator. Through co-teaching, Espinal-Perez and Pereira take turns leading instruction, giving him opportunities to strengthen his skills while supporting students.
For Espinal-Perez, however, teaching begins before the lesson itself.
He believes that greeting students with a smile, acknowledging their presence and creating a welcoming classroom environment can make a meaningful difference in their day. Every student arrives with different experiences, emotions and challenges, and he wants each one to know they belong.
“It's me meeting them at their level,” he said, describing how he approaches students who may be having a difficult day.
He draws on his own experiences as a student to remember that a child's behavior does not tell the whole story. Building relationships, he believes, helps create a safe space where students can express themselves, take academic risks and recognize their abilities.
He also credits his mentors with teaching him the importance of building relationships throughout an entire school community, from families and teachers to administrators and custodians.
“We're a team,” he said. “And at the end of the day, once you realize that, and they've helped me realize this, there is no limits to the potential that we can achieve with these children and your students.”
Athletics have also played an important role in shaping Espinal-Perez's approach to education. A lifelong soccer player, he earned a full-ride athletic scholarship to San Francisco State University.
His experience as a student-athlete reinforced the connection between academic success, discipline and teamwork. Those are lessons he now carries into his classroom.
“The same passion in which I teach is the same passion in which I played,” he said.
Whether on the soccer field or in the classroom, Espinal-Perez understands the importance of having people who encourage you, challenge you and help you recognize what you can accomplish.
As he prepares to complete the ALDER program in June, he hopes to continue working in MPUSD and build a career serving the community that helped raise and educate him.
He knows he is just one part of a much larger effort, but he is eager to contribute.
For Espinal-Perez, returning to MPUSD as an educator is an opportunity to pass along the support he once received and to help students discover strengths they may not yet see in themselves.