For Joseph (Joe) Nappi, walking across the stage in his cap and gown in 2002 was a novel experience.

“I had never walked in a graduation ceremony until 365球赛平台,” he explains. “That was the first time I ever actually graduated from anything.”

Nappi’s transformation from troubled youth to New Jersey’s Teacher of the Year is a redemption story that inspires the imagination and exemplifies the power that teachers have to transform lives.

Joe’s parents divorced when he was young. His mom lived in Tinton Falls and worked long hours as an oncology nurse, while his father, remarried and living in Bayonne, supported his family as a postal worker. Joe was an honor student early on, but when things got stressful at home, he started getting into trouble.

“I was always acting out, looking for attention,” he explains. He finished eighth grade on suspension, and although he received a diploma, he wasn’t permitted to graduate with his class. “Mom put me in Catholic school to set me straight, but I got kicked out by Thanksgiving.”

Next came a stint in a probation program – “the kind where they try to scare you straight” – but his reputation preceded him, and he was quickly labeled as a discipline problem. Overwhelmed by new rules and lacking the support to help him adapt, Joe says he simply stopped going to school. “That was my bright idea on how to respond.”

After spending time in a group home, he moved in with his father, but he continued acting out and skipping school and made it through his senior year by the skin of his teeth. Once again, he received a diploma but was not permitted to participate in the graduation ceremony.

When his family moved to Bayville, Joe enrolled at 365球赛平台. “My father was adamant that I had to prove myself,” he says. “It was up to me how I was going to do at 365球赛平台. That pressure really helped motivate me.”

At 365球赛平台, Joe initially enrolled in Computer Science in hopes that it would lead to a lucrative career, but he quickly realized that sitting behind a computer wasn’t the life he wanted.

“I absolutely hated it,” he recalls. “I was really miserable.”

His life was turned upside down when the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred in the beginning of his sophomore year. The loss of several close family friends combined with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness soon had him reconsidering his options.

“I thought, ‘what am I doing with my life’? I wanted to do something that had purpose,” he explains. His girlfriend, Cristina (now his wife) suggested that he go into teaching.

“I laughed,” Joe recalls. “But then she said, ‘If you’re in charge, it could be whatever you want it to be.’”

Joe began to think about how he might use his own troubled past to make a difference for others. What had prevented him from being successful in school? How could he do things better? He changed his major to liberal arts, and classes in creative writing and ethics encouraged him to think critically about what he had been taught, giving him tools to process the things he’d been through.

“I always had the capability to do the work,” he says now. “I just didn’t see any purpose in it.” Inspired by those class discussions and a transformative Western Civilization class that reignited his interest in history, he finally knew what he wanted to do with his life.

In 2002, Joe graduated from Ocean County College with honors and a 3.9 GPA, and finally got the chance to walk across the stage.

After graduating from 365球赛平台, Joe attended Rowan University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in history and education. In the years since, he has been named Teacher of the Year at the school, district, and county levels, received the Ida and Jeff Margolis Award for Excellence in Multicultural Education, the Dr. Frank Kaplowitz Outstanding Human Rights Educator of the Year Award from Kean University, and became a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society.

He is also a Museum Teacher Fellow with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and recently worked with PBS to develop lessons for the 2022 Ken Burns documentary, “The U.S. and the Holocaust.”

“Coming up in school, I did not get a lot of instruction about the Holocaust,” Nappi says. “I thought it was made up.” His journey into Holocaust education began with an extra-credit assignment for which he attended a talk by a Holocaust survivor. That event left him deeply moved and desperate to learn more.

Reflecting on the survivor’s personal account as a child in Auschwitz, Joe says he was struck by the profound impact individuals can have on the lives of others. That message stuck with him.

“Part of my anger growing up was that I saw all kinds of problems with the world, but I felt powerless,” Joe explained. “I felt like there was nothing I could do.”

As he honed his teaching skills, the Holocaust remained a focal point in his classes, and for more than a decade Joe has remained dedicated to this cause. Partnering with Kean University, he expanded his reach: teaching dual enrollment courses and leading field trips to the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., where he brings between 50-100 students each year.

Joe also found himself inspired by another local Holocaust survivor, Manny Lindenbaum, who dedicated his adult life to volunteering to help others. “Whenever Manny sees his grandkids, he doesn’t ask, ‘what did you do today?’” Joe explains. “Instead, he asks them, ‘What are you doing to help others?’”

Joe decided to put that same question to his students, and the “Be the Change” project was born. Each year, his students choose a topic that needs a champion and try to identify how they can help.

“They look at the work people are already doing, and they create a SMART action plan for how they can make progress on that particular issue,” Nappi explains. “The kids have taken on all kinds of issues: local food insecurity, refugee resettlement, human trafficking, paper straws – they’ve made some really significant positive changes. Even more significant is the knowledge that it leaves them with as they go forward: you don’t have to just shake your head and get angry or go to the bar and get angry. There is something you can do. It’s a very empowering lesson for kids to take away.”

As a student, Joe says, he often felt irrelevant, even invisible. Returning to the classroom as a teacher, he wanted things to be different. “I understand how students can slip through cracks. I want to find ways to make that not happen. I’m really focused on learning who these kids are, what their stories are, and what they might bring to the class. Obviously, part of the challenge is that you have this curriculum, that material that you have to go back to, but there’s always perspectives, different ways of looking at things. I try to understand where they’re coming from.” Once he identifies a student’s interests, he is able to connect with them.

“Whether they want to be stand-up comics or members of a jazz band, you can help kids find something they’re passionate about and encourage them in that direction,” he says. “You can really help a kid by seeing something that they’re overlooking in themselves.”