Kevin Luciana

“I want students to know that they can change the trajectory of their lives any time they want. As a teenager, I really didn’t understand that. I thought I was destined to a future of nothing because of what people told me. My whole life I just considered myself a harmless class clown, but at some point in high school, I realized that my parents and teachers did not. They sent me to the Scared Straight program, where at-risk students are sent to state prisons to chat with inmates. I can distinctly recall driving on the bus up to Otisville, looking around and not recognizing anyone from my peer group. The kids on the bus were people I thought of as real losers. It was eye opening to see that the adults in my life lumped me in with them.

Throughout high school, I got into confrontations with teachers often. Whenever someone would correct my behavior, I would take it as a challenge and turn it into a big altercation. I remember one time going to class and the teacher telling me to leave before the period even started because he wasn’t in the mood for me. I didn’t care much about my future during those years; I literally could not picture myself at thirty. All I wanted was instant gratification.
So, when I graduated, my parents made me go to a local community school. I felt so angry that I was stuck at home and that I made so many poor choices. Those feelings led me to make even worse decisions. My friends and I would never go to class. Instead, we would be drinking at 10 or 11 am. I remember that my first semester, I had a 0.64 GPA. This was another wake up call. I realized that my behavior was no longer cool or funny; it was just embarrassing.

I knew that I was capable of so much more than the adults in my life thought, so I started to turn things around. I made many small changes like spending more time by myself, planning out goals and creating to-do lists. By the time I graduated college my GPA was 3.81.

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I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I had had more teachers like me. I used to have a pretty tough home life, and school would only exacerbate those issues. I found many of my teachers to be very confrontational and that made me act out a lot. So, I love it when I can identify a student very similar to me. I try to interact with them in a way that I wish my teachers could have done, and possibly save them from years of bad choices. I want to create the kind of atmosphere that I always wished I could have had in school. I aim to provide those forty minutes for a student where they can feel like they’re safe, take a deep breath and relax. Each class is a performance to me. I put on my best attitude and “act”. My students never see when I don’t have a good day because I don’t want them to have to deal with my problems in addition to their own. My overall approach to teaching prevents a lot of behavior issues. I treat students the way I wanted to be treated as a teen. We create a mutual respect for each other. The few times I’ve had problems, like a student talking too much, I just let it rock out for that period and then speak to them individually after class. A couple of times, I’ve created cues with students that only us two know, so I can let them know that their behavior is getting out of control without embarrassing them. When I was a student, one of my teachers did this for me and it helped so much. Teachers calling me out in front of everyone would make me want to fight back, whereas a cue didn’t put me on the spot. I know that everyone has so many problems and all I can hope to do is not add to students’ stress.” (December 2021)

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July 2024 Update from December 2021 Interview

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"After making the necessary changes to my life and working so hard on myself and my viewpoint of the world, I am now able to recognize how truly blessed I am. Now, one of my main goals in life is to earn these blessings through my actions, and how I treat others. I want my students to recognize the power they have. They create and control their own realities. Focus on gratitude and kindness. Create a plan for success and happiness, set goals, and go make it happen! Obstacles and barriers are very real in life…but they are not excuses for not achieving your goals. You cannot control what happens to you, but you have all the control over how you react. Your life and how it plays out is your responsibility."