Patrick Davarhanian is one of the newest additions to the Clark Magnet staff this year, teaching both U.S. history and English classes. “He is really organized and his class discussions are helpful. I think it’s going to be a good year,” said junior Aida Zhamkochyan.

His journey to becoming a teacher started after graduating from high school. In fact, he is a product of the Glendale Unified School District. Davarhanian attended Mark Keppel Elementary school, Toll Middle School and Clark Magnet High School.

Davarhanian worked with the AmeriCorps program called “Tutors Today, Teachers Tomorrow.” He said that this program really pushed him towards realizing that he wanted to continue teaching as a career.

After this decision, Davarhanian attended CSUN where he majored in Liberal Studies. He acquired his teaching credential for history and social sciences for elementary to high school level. He tutored and had long term substitute teaching jobs. Davarhanian ended up going back to CSUN where he earned his Masters Degree.

Davarhanian was the recipient of the 2016 Calder/Smith Award at CSUN, an award given to him for his dedication in promoting academic literacy. This award was “created by professor of Emerita Dr. Christine C Smith in honor of her mother and mother-in-law, both of whom were teachers,” Davarhanian said.

Before Davarhanian came to Clark Magnet this year, he taught at Columbus Elementary school for four years.

Patrick Davarhanian’s previous experience as a student at Clark “absolutely made an impact,” he said. Davarhanian also said that attending Clark gave him a good understanding of technology and has helped him apply it in the classroom.