honored as the outstanding student teacher of the year<\/a> by the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English at the group\u2019s convention last month. Lopez now teaches at Brookfield Central.<\/p>\nLopez\u2019s path into the field grew out of a tragedy and the decision to do something that would make a difference. Six years ago, his wife, Lindsay, died of leukemia, leaving him to raise a daughter, Olivia, on his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was proactive and concerned about us,\u201d Lopez said. The insurance money his wife left for the family made it possible for him to make a career change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew the job I was in at the time was a dead-end job,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to do something that was a little more meaningful.\u201d As a single parent, he adds, \u201cI didn\u2019t like working the weekends and every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n
The more he thought about returning to school for a new career, he says, the more he considered education, but he was a little daunted about returning to the classroom in his mid-30s. \u201cI said there\u2019s no way I can do four years of school\u2026I don\u2019t have that in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though his high school teachers told him he had potential, he says, \u201cI was an awful high school student. I had like a 1.5-ish GPA.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he soon found he could do college-level work.\u00a0 \u201cOnce I started going to school and getting mostly A\u2019s, I began thinking: \u2018I can do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He student-taught at Bradley Tech in the spring of 2016 with 51ÁÔÆæ grad Diana Jones and did a field experience at Cooper Elementary in the fall semester of 2015. \u201cBoth my co-ops were awesome. They basically said: \u2018It\u2019s your class, you do it.\u2019 It was great having the freedom to see what works and what doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
His teachers at 51ÁÔÆæ also helped him, he adds.\u00a0 \u201cI took a one-credit class from Jason Orozco, who teaches at Riverside University High School, and he had previously won this award as student teacher of the year. I decided that would be really cool to do that, but I never thought it would actually happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Scott, senior lecturer in the English Education program, and Andrew Kincaid, associate professor of English, were among the many 51ÁÔÆæ faculty who helped him and encouraged him in his studies, Lopez said.<\/p>\n
His family was also supportive. His mother, stepfather and girlfriend, Cheryl Everts, a social worker, helped take care of the children while he was in class and student teaching. (Her son, Chase, is now also part of what Lopez calls his \u201chappy blended family.\u201d)<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t have done it without my girlfriend. She was instrumental in encouraging me to do this. My stepdad has always been there for me, and always said he\u2019d do whatever he could to help the next generation. And my mom was so happy. All her friends were there at my graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n
His teachers at 51ÁÔÆæ helped him gain confidence in his abilities. \u201cI learned that I can be who I am and use that to help my students become better readers, better writers and better people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was honored when the middle school students he had at Cooper invited him back to be the commencement speaker for their eighth-grade graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nice to go back and see the progress they\u2019d made in the four or five months since I\u2019d had them in class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeing that progress and encouraging their learning is the reward for the years of study and effort, Lopez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to see the students\u2019 eyes light up when they finally get something. That really gives me joy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":40648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[250],"section":[246,259],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[207],"uwmnews-feed":[167,347,148],"class_list":["post-40647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-student-success","section-business-world-affairs","section-education","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","related-coverage-teaching","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-community-engagement-professions","uwmnews-feed-education"],"yoast_head":"\n
51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"51ÁÔÆæ REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@51ÁÔÆæNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@51ÁÔÆæNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":667,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/\",\"name\":\"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"JasonLopez5\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"51ÁÔÆæ REPORT\",\"description\":\"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg\",\"width\":225,\"height\":224,\"caption\":\"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/51ÁÔÆæNews\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy","description":"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy","og_description":"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.","og_url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/","og_site_name":"51ÁÔÆæ REPORT","article_published_time":"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@51ÁÔÆæNews","twitter_site":"@51ÁÔÆæNews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy","datePublished":"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/"},"wordCount":667,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg","keywords":["Student Success"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/","name":"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg","datePublished":"2016-11-16T16:04:58+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-14T18:53:47+00:00","description":"Jason Lopez felt trapped in a dead-end job in retail sales. When his wife died and left him a single parent, he knew he needed to act.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/11\/JasonLopez5-750x500.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"JasonLopez5"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/uwm-grad-finds-joy-new-teaching-career-tragedy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"51ÁÔÆæ grad finds joy in new teaching career after tragedy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","name":"51ÁÔÆæ REPORT","description":"News from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/uwm-seo-logo.jpg","width":225,"height":224,"caption":"University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/51ÁÔÆæNews"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/author\/"}]}},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 07:00:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40647"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138198,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40647\/revisions\/138198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40647"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=40647"},{"taxonomy":"display_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_categories?post=40647"},{"taxonomy":"related-coverage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/related-coverage?post=40647"},{"taxonomy":"uwmnews-feed","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uwmnews-feed?post=40647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}