Joe Chay

My name is Joe Chay and I am originally from Los Altos, CA. That's in Silicon Valley up north. I went to Almond elementary, Egan Jr High, and St. Francis High School. I met my wife in college, we were in the same freshman dorm. I have worked for my father since I was 14. I worked my way up from shop assistant to Project manager during my time there. I graduated from UC santa cruz in 2008. This is my second quarter here. I took 460 and 470 this summer and enjoyed both of those classes very much. My Goal is to be a great teacher. I have no previous experience in a formal classroom setting as a teacher. I really like history and connecting with people through history. I chose to get into teaching and go to La Verne for a myriad of reasons. The main one being that I wanted to do something with my life that mattered to me. My father is a successful commercial paint contractor in silicon valley as I alluded to before. The company paints at places like Stanford University, Apple inc., SAP, and so on. I was working my way up through the ranks and found myself looking into my future. I did not want to estimate the cost of painting walls my whole life. It's a noble profession, but simply not one for me. My father supported my decision 100% and told me that I shouldn't take over the business unless it was what I really wanted to do. After that realization, I talked to my friends and people I looked up to. A few of my friends are teachers and said I should look into teaching, the rest is history. I live in an apartment in Rancho Cucamonga with my Wife and 2 little dogs. My wife is my world and I love her more than anything. My family is the most important thing to me in my life. I miss them a lot, they live back in the bay area.