Off the coast of Panama in 1993, a marine biologist spent most of his nights studying coral reproduction alongside fish and other sea creatures in the ocean. Mr. Kapela has dedicated thousands of hours in the water for marine biology research.
It all began with a pet store. Mr. Kapela has always been interested in the ocean and animals. “When I was younger, there was a local pet store with fish and reptiles that I would always go to and I could not wait till I was 16 to work there,” he exclaimed. The introduction to his future career began with excitement running through him as he entered pet stores as a little kid, knowing he would spend his life with animals. He would eventually come to work at one.
At the surface level, these pet stores may not seem that important, but they were a big part of his life. “I have always been into zoology and at this pet store, I loved educating people on how to take care of their animals and that’s something I enjoy the most of all things you find at a pet store,” he explains. One thing about Mr. Kapela is that he loves sharing what he knows with other people, so these pet stores were the perfect opportunity for him to do so. They helped him as a person and his interest in marine science to grow.
However, even though he loves marine science and being in the water with aquatic life, he expresses that “I came to the realization that science is cool but boring at times.” However, he decided he still wanted to do a career involving marine science so he switched — he started studying biology while simultaneously working on his teaching credentials. Mr. Kapela has had a burning passion for marine science since he was a little kid and wanted to express his love for this subject to everyone.
When Mr.Kapela became a part of the Charter staff he brought more than just himself. Mr. Kapela’s favorite thing about having animals in his classroom is that he can use them as real-life examples to teach his students lessons because he believes that not all learning comes from books. For example, “Bill [his big fish] helped me demonstrate a physiology lesson we were doing once, and Patches the python helps teach students that snakes aren’t scary all the time,” he explains. These animals help Mr. Kapela not only teach science lessons but also lessons on how to behave with different animals.
Before Charter opened up, Mr. Kapela taught as a middle school teacher. In his classroom, there was a fish tank and a bearded dragon. This is where he was introduced to the idea of animals in the classroom. “I started teaching zoology, and then from there it grew into fish tanks all over the room– we even fostered kittens,” he described. Most of the animals were given by students and he never said no. So a harmless little fish tank and the bearded dragon turned into multiple fish tanks, Bill the big fish, Tortellini the turtle, and Perry the bird. And you can’t forget Patches the snake, and of course, Amber the dog.
Many teachers want their students to remember them and this is Mr. Kapela’s way of doing so. “I wanted to give students the experience that they will remember years and decades down in their life– where in high school I had a crazy teacher with many animals in their room,” he expressed. Mr. Kapela has already earned himself a name where everyone refers to him as the ‘teacher with all the animals’. Students will forever remember him– it is not like you see animals in a classroom that often, or someone with such a strong passion for a subject.
