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Hamidreza Majidi developed a love for math and started teaching it in his home country of Iran two decades ago.
After a lengthy career in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, Majidi, 57, is now bringing his passion to Milwaukee as a corps member of Teach For America Milwaukee. Teach For America, or TFA, is a leadership development program that trains people to become educators and leaders in local communities across the country.
‘A long, long process’
Majidi’s journey to teach in an American classroom began soon after he and his family arrived in the United States in 2013, following the lead of his brother who had lived here since 1974.
Majidi settled in San Diego and initially enrolled in English as a second language classes at San Diego Miramar College to improve his English, driven by his dream of teaching in America.
Despite having the necessary certification to teach in Iran, Majidi had to meet new requirements to teach in the U.S.
“I was a teacher in Tehran, and I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I understood that to be a math teacher I needed to get a bachelor’s degree and a certificate,” Majidi said. “But I knew it was a long, long process.”
Following his English as a second language classes, Majidi pursued an associate degree in applied math. During that time, he worked as a math tutor while studying, gaining experience that now helps him in the classroom.
From there, he followed his daughter to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was accepted to study physics. They both graduated in May, and Majidi started with Teach For America that summer.
Now he is working as a math teacher at Milwaukee’s Carmen High School of Science and Technology- South campus, a charter school located at 1712 S. 32nd St.