This month, Revere Public Schools (RPS) celebrated Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month by highlighting the voices and experiences of educators whose stories represent the diversity and strength of the district community. RPS is celebrating these stories as part of its ongoing From Where We Come storytelling series.
The latest episode features Susan B. Anthony Middle School teacher Joanne Tanaka, CityLab High School assistant principal Evalynn Bulger, Susan B. Anthony Middle School special education teacher Keisha Galicia, and Revere High School biology and biotechnology teacher Jerry Gesar. Each educator provides deeply personal views on how culture, family, identity, and lived experience continue to impact how they teach, lead, and engage with students.
The film starts with the statement that every one of us has a story based on culture, language, family, and who we are. For many AANHPI communities, those stories are based on resilience, sacrifice, and optimism—principles that continue to shape schools and communities every day.
For Joanne Tanaka, the story began in the middle of the world.
Tanaka, who teaches seventh-grade social studies at Susan B. Anthony Middle School, said she was abandoned by her parents as an infant on a train in China and put in an orphanage before being adopted by her parents, an American mother and Japanese father who were living in Japan at the time. Raised in Japan, Tanaka attended school on a U.S. Navy post and navigated the cultures of America and Japan.
That bicultural background informs her work in the classroom now. At SBA, Tanaka established a course called Social Roles Through History, in which students examine how culture, identity, and expectations influence societies throughout world history. She infuses aspects of her Japanese background as she goes, sharing images from trips back to Japan, teaching kids origami, and adding courses related to Japanese history and customs.
Her desire for cultural exchange eventually led to the formation of SBA's origami club, where students acquire paper-folding skills and experience Japanese culture through food, art, and storytelling. A major part of education for Tanaka involves helping pupils understand their own backgrounds and value other cultures.
“We’re all from different countries and cultures,” she said in the episode. “I think it’s really important to share culture and to have those conversations in the classroom.”
Similar attention to connection and cultural understanding was evident in the story of Keisha Galicia.
Galicia, a native of Manila, Philippines, discussed the importance of family in Filipino culture and the challenges of transitioning to life in a new nation. Moving to the United States and teaching in Revere was the furthest she had ever been from home.
Galicia said she had culture shock at first, but she said Revere’s diversity was one of the factors that made her feel accepted and supported.
“I love the diversity in the community,” she said. “It has been a great experience to relate to my students’ experiences about adjusting to a different environment,” said Tsukamoto.
“I’m grateful for the relationships I’ve formed in the school community and look forward to continuing to learn about American culture while sharing my traditions and experiences with students and colleagues,” Galicia said.
Revere High School biology and biotechnology teacher Jerry Gesar carries an equally global viewpoint into the classroom.
Gesar, a third-generation Tibetan American whose family history has wound through Tibet, Mongolia, India, Nepal, Switzerland, and the United States, has been characterized by movement, education, and service along his journey. His parents were refugees after the Chinese conquest of Tibet, and his father was a scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and old languages.
Gesar himself had employment in federal service, research, pharmaceuticals, and higher education before he returned to teaching.
Gesar, a third-year student at Revere High School, cites the school’s diversity as one of its most prominent features. Teaching multilingual learners and pupils from all over the world has equally challenged and inspired him.
In the film, he reflected on the different languages, cultures, and backgrounds that are represented across the city and schools. “Revere is much more diverse than any other school district that I have seen,” he remarked.
“Revere is a microcosm of an international community,” he said, “where students and families of myriad backgrounds come together and enrich one another through shared experiences.
"Identity and education are really tied together," says Evalynn Bulger, assistant principal of CityLab High School.
Bulger, who is of both Hispanic and Asian descent, talked about growing up with different ethnic identities while residing throughout the North Shore and Greater Boston area. She spent much of her childhood more in touch with her Hispanic roots, but subsequently came to a greater awareness of her Cambodian background and her father’s experience surviving the Khmer Rouge government.
Her father, a Revere educator for many years, eventually told her about the catastrophic losses his family suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, including displacement, work camps, and the loss of loved ones. Those chats ultimately impacted Bulger’s decision to abandon a nursing degree and pursue a career in education.
“The one thing that couldn’t be taken was education,” she remarked, remembering her father’s lesson about the necessity of knowledge and learning, even in the midst of unspeakable misery.
That belief still guides her work today as an educator and school leader. “I hope students walk away from school with the ability to think critically, express their beliefs and make a positive change in the world around them,” said Bulger.
The episode shines with the importance of representation, belonging, and storytelling.
Sharing these experiences is Revere Public Schools’ reaffirmation of its commitment to creating settings where children, family, and staff feel recognized, respected, and appreciated. The district’s AANHPI Heritage Month edition of From Where We Come honors cultural identity and reinforces the message that diversity is still one of the district’s greatest strengths.
At the end of the movie, participants remind viewers that each experience, language, and journey adds to the heart of Revere Public Schools—helping to develop a community based on understanding, inclusion, and belonging.