Armando Mendive has been a part of the Monsignor Edward Pace High School faculty since September 3, 1997. He had hopes of becoming an engineer, but history, particularly American History, always held a special place in his heart and guided him to become the person and social studies teacher he is today.
Following an all-school mass this past fall, the entire student body at Pace burst into enthusiastic cheers when principal Ana Garcia announced that Mendive had been recognized as Teacher of the Year following nearly 21 years teaching at the high school.
Growing up, Mendive recalls being “one of the quiet kids in class.” He always felt that he saw the world differently than most kids.
“I was a voracious reader, especially history and fantasy books,” Mendive said.
After 25 years as an educator, Mendive believed that the hours of discussions as a young man with his parents and brothers over various topics led him to discover his love of history, and that it could be understood from many different perspectives.
As a junior attending Saint Brendan High school, Mendive met his wife Onelia at an SAT prep course at Coral Park High School.
“She is the one who pushed me to become a teacher,” Mendive recognized. “She always felt I would be good at it.”
As he continued along his own academic path, Mendive’s enthusiasm for teaching history was shaped by a professor who he came across while he was a student at Miami-Dade College.
“He made me realize that history is not just about facts,” said Mendive. “It’s about ideas, philosophies, ground breaking moments and most importantly, about amazing people. When I teach history, I try to make the stories come to life for the students in the same way that they came to life for me.”
Mendive began his teaching career as a computer teacher for K-6 at Gateway Christian. He worked as a substitute for Miami-Dade County Public Schools and later went on to teach 6th grade students at St. Monica’s Catholic School prior to coming to Pace.
As a new teacher at Pace back in 1997, Mendive says he was “blessed with an enormous amount of help and advice from a number of teachers,” and jokingly admitted “I stole all of their tricks.”
In addition to teaching Social Studies, Mendive is also the moderator of the Japanese Animation and Culture Club at Pace. Anime is something he also fell in love with while watching late night TV as a teenager and he is excited to share this with the students as well.
Mendive is thankful for this recognition and looks forward to being a part of the Spartan family for many years to come, as his twins Onelia and Armando are now freshman at Pace.