By Ching Yuen, staff writer
After working as a math teacher, financial advisor, and counselor, Mr. Cappels found himself working as a dean at Galileo this year. With his love for education, Dean Cappels loves meeting with students and also tackles the challenges that the school faces behind the scenes.
Dean Cappels began his career in education by tutoring math at his local Boys and Girls Club. As a fresh college graduate, Dean Cappels wasn’t sure of what to do with his life. He coached high school basketball and ultimate frisbee but also considered going to med school or becoming a pilot for an airline. With his career at the crossroads, Dean Cappels decided to give teaching a shot and applied to become a substitute math teacher at Carlmont High School in 2011.
While teaching algebra and geometry at Carlmont, the school wanted Dean Cappels to teach a finance class for seniors. “I made an excellent curriculum and the parents of my students started reaching me for advice and tips to better manage their money,” Dean Cappels said, “I realized that my students were more educated on money than most adults, and adults have a lot more money than students. So I left teaching to help adults be wiser with their money.”
During his work as a financial advisor, Dean Cappels did not find it very enjoyable as getting sales as a financial advisor was very tedious and did not fit his personality. “I was knocking on strangers’ doors to sell my service to them. In that line of work I encountered a lot of rejection and not as much compensation as I hoped for,” Dean Cappels said.
In search of a happier job, Dean Cappels turned back to his passion for education. After calling every high school from Daly City to Menlo Park, in February of 2015, Dean Cappels took the job as a long time math substitute teacher at Sequoia High School at Redwood City for the remainder of that school year. He then transferred to Terra Nova High School to teach the following school year.
However, ever since the Covid-19 shutdown and schools made the transition to remote learning, Dean Cappels realized that he did not love math enough to continue teaching it. “Math teaching became nothing more than talking numbers into a camera,” he explained. The next year, Dean Cappels quit being a math teacher and became a counselor at Lowell High School, and after a year at Lowell, Dean Cappels is now at Galileo.
As a first year dean, Dean Cappels had no expectations of the job, but is approaching this challenge of building a relationship with students, parents, and teachers by looking to his past. “Basketball coaching for 8 years prepared the work I do with students, and my time as a teacher has really helped me understand what a teacher needs from a dean,” Dean Cappels said, adding, “Sometimes in education, different roles don’t understand or don’t get to work with one another enough so I feel that I understand the need of the teacher versus someone who has never taught.”
Another responsibility of Dean Cappels is to secure the school and protect students. Often against unpredictable situations, Dean Cappels uses many tools and his security teams to keep the school safe. “I am in total control of our high tech camera system. I communicate constantly with our school security team. I also communicate with security at Ghirardelli and Fort Mason. We work together to ensure the safety of the school,” Dean Cappels states.
When asked about his favorite part about the school for his first year, Dean Cappels responds: “I think the location is super cool because we can see one of the most famous bridges and best ice cream sundaes.” He adds, “I love that everyday is different, I love that every student is different because it makes my day exciting and unique.”
