Meet the Teacher:  Chuck Podlovics

Mr. Podlovics was born in Hungary and lived there until the age of 9.  His family moved to Canada in 1984 (If you do the math correctly, then you will now be able to figure out how old he is).  He and his family had to live in a refugee camp for nearly 6 months before they were fully cleared to immigrate to Canada.  He then lived in Simcoe, Ontario until his university years.

He has been married to his amazing wife, Saori, for almost 20 years. They have two children: Madison, who is 15 and a brown belt in karate and Gabriel, who is 10 and a master of Roblox.

Chuck really loves team sports and has been playing both soccer and volleyball in adult leagues in his area.  His fingers are crossed that we will all be able to get back to this sooner than later.

When he graduated from university with a biology degree, he really did not know what he wanted to do since his experience in a lab environment was not what he had expected.  He saw an ad in the local paper about opportunities to travel while making a few dollars teaching English. He then went to South Korea for two years to teach English to students from the age of 3 to older business people.  He fell in love with teaching, so when he returned to Canada, he immediately applied to teachers’ college.  This is now his 18th year at Crestwood.

When asked about fun experiences he’s had at Crestwood, Mr. Podlovics mentioned the time he’d had his legs waxed during a school assembly in order to raise money for a charitable cause.  He was amazed at how soft and smooth his legs looked, but says it is not something he would do again since the pain was not worth the gain.  On second thought, he might consider doing it again for charity.

Although Chuck isn’t sure if this is really a secret or a talent, he admits to having a knack for coming up with really bad dad jokes on the spot based on what is happening at the moment.

On a more serious note, Mr. Podlovics truly believes in the philosophy that we need to challenge ourselves in anything we do and that may initially result in failure.  It is from the effort and failure that we learn to become individuals who know how to persevere and succeed in life.