Faculty Spotlight: Tito Carvalho
By ELINA MRAZ ‘21
Tito Carvalho is not only a great biology teacher, but also a man with an interesting backstory. Aside from his impressive professional life, Mr. Carvalho has lived through some extraordinary experiences before Milton. Here are 10 fun facts to know about Mr. Carvalho:
While growing up in Brazil, he performed in the circus as a clown and as an acrobat.
Hillary Clinton, the First Lady at the time, was in the audience at one of his performances.
He competed in the long jump during high school but had the shortest distance, giving him the title “shortest long jumper.”
When his mom was pregnant with him, she went into labor on a sailboat, and his dad started frantically sailing back to shore. Thankfully, they made it, and Mr. Carvalo was born in a hospital -- not on a sailboat.
He moved to the US at age 16.
His wife is an incredible violinist.
His main sport in high school was swimming, competing in freestyle and breaststroke in the 50m and 100m events.
His dream travel destination is Japan, and he would love to travel there with his mom who worked there for a fellowship.
Mr. Carvalho has two cats but would like to have a dog. Unfortunately, his cats don’t like dogs, so that’s for his next generation of pets.
He and his wife enjoy traveling to Europe and “acting older than they are” because they enjoy going to museums and classical music concerts.
Mr. Carvalho attended the University of Arizona, where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in biology. He later attended the University of California San Diego, where he earned a candidate of philosophy degree and a PhD in sociology and science studies. After completing his PhD, Mr. Carvalho chose to work at Milton because he wanted to teach at a school with a strong science program and students who hoped to go into science professionally. Mr. Carvalho knew that Milton is notable for its rigorous English and History courses, but wanted to show those students that science is something they can also think about from a critical, humanist perspective. He enjoys combining the humanities with scientific thinking. He believes that even though science can tell us the facts, it can’t tell us what questions we should be asking in the first place or what values we should hold. In slightly deflating science from the privileged position it has in society, he feels as though he is a “Trojan Horse.”
Mr. Carvalho currently teaches both honors and regular biology at Milton. Biology was his favorite subject in both high school and undergraduate school, but he wanted to be a doctor in high school and started college on the pre-med track. He eventually realized, however, that he was more interested in teaching. Being a first-year teacher at Milton is a lot of work, especially teaching Honors Biology, so his classes have essentially much of his focus. If you feel like you are busy as a student, it's reassuring to know that the teachers are also extremely busy.
This is just a small peek into Mr. Carvalho’s life, but there are many more funny stories and fascinating experiences to hear from him. Just ask!
Image courtesy of milton.edu