Often, students graduate high school feeling unprepared to enter society in regard to crucial life skills. One teacher, however, is working to change that.
John Rowe teaches Introduction to Business and Introduction to Marketing at Carlmont High School. These classes aim to teach applicable life and business skills, which students can use beyond the class itself.
“We learn a lot of useful life skills in his class,” said Carlmont junior Riku Miwa. “We are doing things such as how to file taxes.”
Beyond teaching specific skills, Rowe helps students develop their soft skills as well.
“The structure of his classes helps develop collaboration and presentation skills,” said Carlmont junior Ritika Rawat.
However, Rowe’s path to becoming a teacher wasn’t straightforward.
“I never anticipated going into teaching,” Rowe said. “I was always thinking that I was going to work in Silicon Valley.”
Rowe initially worked as a product marketer for semiconductor companies—first at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and then at Altera, which was later acquired by Intel.
“When my youngest son got to kindergarten, my wife wanted to go back to work, and so I started teaching part-time at Palo Alto High School,” Rowe said.
Rowe balanced teaching with caring for his kids before moving to Carlmont in 2017, partially to pursue teaching business.
“I started with teaching math here because there were no business classes,” Rowe said. “I’ve slowly transitioned to having all business classes.”
One applicable life skill taught in Rowe’s classes is taxes. Students in Rowe’s marketing and business classes are learning to file taxes through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). The program works with volunteers to do tax preparation work for underserved individuals.
“I say it’s a win-win: the students learn about taxes which they appreciate, the people whose taxes we do win because we’re doing their taxes, but they’re also happy to help students learn at the same time,” Rowe said.
Fortunately for students, Rowe’s classes are dual enrollment through Cañada College, allowing them to receive college credits while taking a high school class.
“In order to have a class that is dually enrolled, you have to have a teacher that has a master’s degree because it’s really a college course,” Rowe said.
In addition, Rowe supervises the Carlmont DECA club. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.
“Mr. Rowe chaperones all conferences and does the administrative work,” Rawat, the vice president of competition at Carlmont DECA, said.
Overall, Rowe’s commitment to teaching leaves a lasting impact on students.
“He does his best to reinforce content to ensure students comprehend what we are learning,” Rawat said.
