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12/04/2019 07:30 AMJason Corrado remembers being a high school kid, unsure of what he wanted to do with his life.
“When I was in high school, I felt a lot of pressure to figure out what I wanted to do,” Jason recalls.
Then one day while working in a restaurant, Jason discovered a skill he enjoyed and wanted to do as a career.
“I realized I wanted to be a teacher in high school while working at a restaurant and having to train someone. I found I liked it,” Jason says. “In every job [where] I had the training aspect—whether it was me getting trained or me training someone—was enjoyable. So, teaching always made sense.”
Jason is still teaching today, but instead of training staff he’s training young minds as a teacher at the Jared Eliot Middle School in Clinton.
The Branford resident can also be found as a student at a martial arts school in East Haven, where he has been training for seven years.
“I’m learning again,” Jason jokes, noting he’s done martial arts in the past but that he’s learning a new style.
He’s actually been a martial arts instructor, helping with the YMCA program Fight Like a Girl that provides women with self-defense skills.
In his Clinton classroom, he currently teaches 5th grade students.
“I teach English and social studies,” he says. “I like teaching 5th grade because 5th graders are mature enough to understand world concepts, but are young enough that they’re still excited about school,” Jason explains.
Social studies is his favorite subject to teach. He majored in political science in college with the goal of being a social studies teacher.
“Now I get to teach it to elementary school kids,” says Jason. “I feel like understanding the world is key to being able to make a difference in it.”
As a reflection of his passion for history, Jason works with an after-school club that trains students for The National History Bee.
“This is the sixth year I’ve been doing it. It’s a national competition done all over the country with students from 3rd to 12th grade,” says Jason.
“Each year for the past six years I’ve been meeting with a group of kids after school and we talk about history and I teach them how to research,” Jason says.
The group beings training in October, and then takes part in an online competition in January. If the students do well in that competition, they are invited to take part in the regional competition, and the winners from the regional competition are invited to the national round. Lately, several of Jason’s students have been able to show off their knowledge at the national round.
“Three years ago, we had one student go to the national round in Atlanta, two years ago a student went to the national round in Chicago, and last year we had three students go to the national round again in Chicago,” Jason notes with pride.
Jason was able to attend one of the national rounds with the students and their families, which he says helped prepare him for what kids of questions the students should be ready for.
“It was a lot of fun and after seeing it in person I was able to train them better,” he says.
Jason says the questions are 50 percent about United States history and 50 percent about world history.
“They can literally ask about anything that’s happened in the world. A lot of the questions I don’t know the answers to without looking them up,” Jason admits.
Jason likes to stay active. He’s often seen around Branford on his bicycle, and also likes to use it to explore new cities.
“I’ve biked every town on the shoreline from Mystic to Fairfield,” says Jason.
Additionally, Jason says he’s biked in Chicago and France, and that he hopes to someday bike in every town along the shoreline.