Dr. Isaac Olvera is the newest assistant principal at Glendale High School. He was born in Montebello and has lived in many other areas in Los Angeles. His favorite hobbies are dancing, playing volleyball, and spending time with his family, which includes his French bulldog. He is replacing Mr. Mark Gang, who retired this past summer.
Prior to coming to GHS, Dr. Olvera’s journey in education began at Lawndale High School where he held his first teaching job. For seven years, he was a dance director, a 10th grade English teacher, and a learning center specialist. He was also involved in leadership opportunities, like during summer school when he was an administrative designee in 2019. He also worked as a data lead for the American Sign Language Academy. Coming to GHS was an easy decision for him, especially because he was accepted as an assistant principal.
Dr. Olvera went to UCLA where he got his Master’s degree in Education and his teaching credential. After being in and out of the classroom for seven years, he decided to join the USC doctoral program in Educational Leadership, because he had been previously involved in a lot of leadership opportunities as an educator.
Dr. Olvera’s reason for becoming an assistant principal is all about the students. “I have always been very passionate about helping out youth and really assisting them with finding out more about themselves and their personal [and] academic growth,” he said. “People tell me they can come and talk to me when they need to.”
Everyone should be able to talk to someone they can trust, and a lot of them have gone and talked to Dr. Olvera. Building relationships and trust is very important for him, and he likes that everyone at GHS is very welcoming and helps everyone each step of the way.
Dr. Olvera also appreciates that our school is very diverse; there is a large population of Armenians, but we have a significant number of Filipinos as well. Additionally, over 20% of our student population also identifies as Hispanic or Latino.
“Seeing everyone working together and learning together makes you want to work [and] be around that,” Dr. Olvera said. He loves that everyone knows how to cooperate.
One piece of advice that Dr. Olvera likes to give to students, who are struggling to pick a path, is that they should make a pros and cons list. Then they can narrow it down to their best options. Afterwards, they can go and talk to him, and he will help them choose which path is the best for them.
Dr. Olvera feels like our school is amazing. He has big hopes for the future, but the main one is to one day become a principal in the Glendale Unified School District. He likes all of the students and staff members at our school and he hopes that he can make a positive impact on our community.
