- April 28, 2024
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Teaching is the family business for Stephen Gold.
His mom worked as an elementary school teacher in Volusia County for 35 years. His father was an athletic director at several local high schools. His sister teaches at a local middle school, and his grandfather worked as a principal from the 1960s to the 1980s — and was an assistant principal at the very school Gold now works at.
Mainland High School, where Gold was named Teacher of the Year. It was seeing their impact firsthand that motivated him to become an educator himself, he said in a statement to the Observer.
"I saw how good teaching can impact and improve the lives of students and how they can contribute both to building a familial and communal atmosphere at a school, as well as growing the community at large closer and stronger," Gold said.
Gold is in his fifth year teaching, all of which he's spent at Mainland. He is a member of the school's social studies department, teaching American history to juniors.
He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in history and a minor in diplomatic studies. He wanted to try and make a difference in his community, he said.
"I feel like public education is the greatest vehicle for building a better world, and if the goal of education is building better humans as WEB DuBois advocated it was, I wanted to be a part of it," Gold said.
He added that he was surprised by the Teacher of the Year nomination, saying it was humbling but that he felt grateful.
"To be both nominated and selected by my peers to be a representative of the hard work we all do and the excellence we all strive to achieve for our students is an honor," Gold said.
His favorite thing about being a teacher is working with students and talking history. In his job, he gets to talk about important ideas and things he's passionate about every day.
"I think an understanding of history is crucial to understanding our world and trying to guide it to a better future, and working with students to see that is incredibly rewarding," Gold said. "My students are such empathetic, kind, brilliant and funny young people that every day I am excited to work with them."
He's also surrounded by people in his department who "always go the extra mile" and are willing to support him when he needs it, something Gold said has been a guiding light for him. Kelsey Moskovits and Arthur "Monty" Mountcastle are two people that have been instrumental in helping Gold learn how to be a good teacher and a student advocate, he said.
"Being an educator can be difficult at times, but it is easy to be motivated when you work with such an incredible group of kids and people," Gold said. "Every year, I am astounded by how thoughtful and caring our students can be, and it is easy to want to work hard for them."
And when he's not in the classroom, you could find Gold onstage. He used to be involved in theatre growing up and this year, he was part of a show at the Daytona Playhouse and a member of the ensemble cast at the Flagler Playhouse in the spring.
