September 25, 2024
Craig Rowe, a teacher and mentor at Truckee High School, has become well-known among parents and students during the nine years that he’s been in Truckee. He received the honor of “Teacher of the Year” for Tahoe Truckee Unified School District in 2022 and then was a finalist for California State Teacher of the Year in 2023, but his work with students as a mentor and the fact that he is involved in so many student-focused programs are what really stand out. As a College and Career Readiness advisor, Model UN advisor/facilitator, helping students participate in Truckee’s Pitch Camp and Truckee North Tahoe Tech Teens, to starting La Fuerza Latina, a college prep program for TTUSD students who are first generation college attendees, and more – it seems he is always on the go. When asked how he has any free time, Craig responded, “I don’t need free time. I like to keep busy.”
A case in point: We had to squeeze in the photo shoot between the end of the school year and when he left for the Bay Area for his regular July stint as a volunteer English teacher for inmates at San Quentin. Right after the photo shoot, he was going to Music in the Park to share information in the Friends of the Truckee Library booth about efforts to build a new Truckee library, having recently joined their Board of Directors.
The following article from Chalkboard Champions.org after Craig was named a finalist for California State Teacher of the Year in 2023 sums up why he is such a valuable asset to our community.
from chalkboardchampions.org, August 10, 2023
Many exceptional educators have been recognized for their work in the classroom this year. One of these is Craig Rowe, a high school English teacher from Placer County, California. He has been named one of nine finalists for California’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.
Craig teaches at Truckee High School in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District. He also serves as the Model United Nations Advisor for his school. The honored educator says he is passionate about diversity students having an equal chance to attend the college of their dreams. To facilitate this, he formed La Fuerza Latina, a small college prep admissions program for his Truckee High students. The goal of the program is to raise the collegiate bar for students from multi-ethnic backgrounds, and to provide the kind of high-caliber admissions preparation paid consultants provide. In this way, Craig says, diversity students have the opportunity to compete at the highest level nationally, to earn scholarships, and to reach their potential.
Craig has his own childhood experiences to thank for his passion to help disadvantaged students. As a young man, he says, he never saw himself becoming a teacher. The son of a Hispanic mother and a White father, neither of whom attended college, Craig remembers school as a place fraught with racial tension and frequent fights. As a young man, he recalls fellow students speaking negatively about his ethnic heritage, which caused him a great deal of shame and anger. “This was before multiculturalism was a thing,” Craig remembers. “School was definitely not a respite.”
Despite his inauspicious performance in high school academics, Craig went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington. He earned his Master’s degree in Dramatic Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. And he completed the requirements for his Ph.D. in Performance Studies from University of California, Berkeley. While there, he garnered a Regents Fellowship. In addition, Craig worked in a Chicana writing program at Stanford University.
“I want every student to know that regardless of their social or ethnic status, if they are hard-working and diligent, they can compete at the very highest level nationally,” asserts Craig. “My intent is simply to supplement our outstanding counseling support system, so our students have equal advantages for being placed in highly competitive colleges and universities as well as earn scholarships,” he concludes.
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Below are links to more articles in the Sierra Sun and Moonshine Ink about Craig’s work with students:
Check out the Fall 2024 issue of Truckee.com: An Insider’s Guide to read about how Craig ended up in Truckee in his Locals to Know feature on p. 27.
