Carlmont has many great programs and classes offered, and everyone knows that it would not be possible if it weren’t for the teachers and administration. Raphael Kauffmann is one of those great teachers that we have to thank.

Kauffmann was recently named San Mateo County Teacher of the Year for 2012, an accomplishment to be very proud of.

Although honored, Kauffmann believes that “in many ways the award is for things Carlmont’s English department has done together, so it’s kind of a shared honor.”

This is Kauffmann’s seventh year teaching at Carlmont, which was his first full-time teaching job. He teaches English I and English III, and is, on top of that, the English Department Instructional Leader.

“While I did not always see myself as a teacher, I always thought about it in the back of my mind,” Kauffmann stated. “I was a musician growing up and expected to become famous playing in a band.”

Kauffmann got his degree in Broadcasting & Electronic Communications at San Francisco State University. He played music for about ten years, and “loved it, but it was not a very steady lifestyle, or a healthy one for that matter.”

It wasn’t until Kauffmann met his wife that he started to want to do something different. He started helping a friend of his, a teacher, by starting a recording studio project at her school.

“It was what made me want to become an English teacher. Helping the kids learn to write was very powerful… Music has never left my classroom… but I am an English teacher through and through.”

The students at Carlmont are very lucky that he decided to pursue a career in education.

Kauffmann’s advice to any aspiring teachers: “Keep aspiring. Teaching isn’t about reaching the summit and pitching a tent.”