Teacher of the Week: Dr. Joseph Laszlo
Living Noblesse Oblige
If you’ve been on the high school campus lately, you’ll recognize a significant change in the environment there. Everywhere you turn, blue containers that collect recyclable bottles and cans are close by. When entering Maryknoll High School from the parking lot, turn right just before the statue of Mary and walk towards the freeway. There you will see a large compost bin and an aquaculture station as shown in the picture above. Beside the strawberry plants beginning to grow are teachers Ed DaSilva to the left and Dr. Joseph Laszlo on the right. Both are the advisors of a new club started this year at Maryknoll School led by Maryknoll students called EPS or the Environmental Protection Squad. Together with the guidance of Mr. DaSilva, Dr. Laszlo, assistance with the delivery of recyclable materials from Maryknoll’s Civil Air Patrol, and help with collecting used paper by our high school students in the National Honor Society, Maryknoll High School can proudly say that its campus is an example of what urban sustainability looks like. Much of the progress that has been made in this area is directly related to the influence of one of our new teachers at Maryknoll School, Dr. Joseph Laszlo.
Dr. Laszlo was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana near Notre Dame University. His father worked for the famous automobile company Studebaker building cars. As a child, Dr. Laszlo would often walk into the factory where his father worked and watch with awe as cars were assembled piece by piece. Since that time, he has always been fascinated with discovering what makes things work. This love for learning led Dr. Laszlo to be a successful student in school while attending Oliver Elementary and Middle School from Kindergarten to the 8th grade and later Washington High School. As a high school student, Dr. Laszlo played the trumpet in band, and also was part of the Drama Club and church choir. However, Dr. Laszlo spent most of his time taking part in science-related activities like being a member of the Future Teachers Club and helping as an intern in Biology classes. Early on, Dr. Laszlo knew he would someday become a science teacher. Four years after graduating from high school, Dr. Laszlo left Purdue University with a Bachelors of Science in Biology with a minor in English Literature to pursue his dream of teaching in California.
Dr. Laszlo’s first teaching position was as a middle school science and math teacher in Los Angeles. Soon after, he discovered that schools in Hawaii were looking for teachers. In 1966, Dr. Laszlo flew to Hawaii where one of his high school teachers from Indiana picked him up at Honolulu Airport and showed him around Oahu before making the trip to Kohala High School where he taught science for the next 25 years. In 1992 Dr. Laszlo moved to Oahu and attained a graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1995 at the University of Hawaii while working there at UH Lab School. For the next five years, Dr. Laszlo taught at Radford High School and won the Presidential Award in Teaching in 1999 as an A.P. Biology teacher. For the next six years, Dr. Laszlo returned to the University of Hawaii working in the Physics Department writing labs for science students while also completing doctorate degree there. After graduating with a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis on Science, Dr. Laszlo worked for the Institute for Teacher Education with the task of evaluating science and math teachers and also spent two years as the writer of a very successful series of articles in the Honolulu Advertiser called Dr. Gadget. After lecturing at the University of Hawaii, Dr. Laszlo missed teaching high school students and began looking for a teaching position in town. That’s when Ed DaSilva told him about an opening at Maryknoll High School for the position of A.P. Biology teacher. Soon after interviewing for the position, Dr. Laszlo was chosen to be a part of the Maryknoll team.
Dr. Laszlo came to Maryknoll School as a seasoned and award winning teacher, but he is quick to say that the learning curve at Maryknoll High School is very high due to the high use of technology and the many responsibilities teachers have at Maryknoll School. With the second semester on its way, Dr. Laszlo is finding his rhythm once again as a teacher and is now focusing on doing what it takes to help his students identify their goals in life and reach them. He continues to ask his students individually if they have a plan for life after college. Of all his accomplishments, Dr. Laszlo is most proud of the fact that many of his former students have gone on to become science teachers. He hopes to inspire a new group of students here at Maryknoll to take their love of science to become medical doctors and more.
Dr. Laszlo started his journey in life next to one of the most prestigious Catholic Universities in the world in South Bend, Indiana. Today, he is now working in Hawaii’s largest Catholic School and is truly living our school’s motto of noblesse oblige by making a difference in the lives of many students here through inspiring them to enter the field of science and to also practice sustainability. Thank you Dr. Laszlo for being a part of our Maryknoll family.