LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Juan Carlos Moya was nominated by a colleague, Ana Garcia.

Mr. Moya began as an English teacher at Immaculata-La Salle High School (ILS), teaching sophomores in World Literature. He created a curriculum that has lasting effects on the students and formed a foundation for Junior and Senior curricula across disciplines. He turned the focus of multicultural literature to understanding the immigrant experience. Together, he and his students examined works that described or were part of colonization and then evolved that into how literature increases our capacity to empathize with others, and how this allows us to see strangers as ourselves, all part of one human family. The repercussions of his lessons benefited the social studies, art, theology, and even science teachers who taught his students because the students brought these concepts and reflections into the other curricula.

After a few years, Mr. Moya introduced extracurricular opportunities for students and teachers at school that emerged from his literature lessons. He went to Rwanda and created a lasting relationship with Carl Wilkens, who is now a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on genocide, but more importantly, on the fruitful work of the reconciliation in that country. He propelled the Debate Team to winning status at local, state, and national competitions, spending hours after school and on weekends devoted to increasing their awareness of issues and their impact on individual lives. He piqued students' interest in taking Advanced Placement (AP) Comparative Government and International Relations. He also teaches AP Human Geography. He initiated projects to support the United Nations 17 Goals for Sustainable Development, bringing this into the school community's consciousness.

Two years ago, Mr. Moya founded the Applied Global Leadership Program at ILS, wherein students can choose specific electives, externships, workshops, and service projects to learn what it takes to be leaders in the community in matters of global consequence: immigration, human rights, climate change, etc. He is an essential voice with the Archdiocese of Miami as a liaison to Catholic Relief Services. Together, they try to maintain a vital role in aiding those in dire need around the world. He is also on the committee implementing educational experiences for students to meet Pope Francis's mandate to work towards a moral stewardship of the planet, as proposed in the pontiff's Laudato Si.

"With his incredible talent as a teacher and his deep knowledge of literature, arts, culture and politics, I sometimes see JC as a gate-keeper for our school's mission and vision. He ensures that the 'life-long learners and global citizens' we aspire to create have an exceptionally curated curriculum to explore and in which to blossom, with JC mentoring them the whole way," said Garcia.