Kate Gruetter and Brynn Gibson
National/World Editor and Editor in Chief
Whether you know him as the voice echoing from the loudspeaker at school sports events or by the meticulous corrections on your Algebra II or Statistics homework, we are saddened to report that after 35 years of teaching — 15 of which were at Los Gatos High School — respected and revered math teacher Mike Navrides has decided to retire. Though a sad departure for LGHS, Navrides leaves behind a legacy well-worth respecting and remembering, full of statistics, sports, and support.
Navrides began his academic accolades as a business major at San Jose State University, though upon realizing he hated all of his business classes, he decided to switch his major to math. Navrides’ inspiration to become a teacher followed shortly thereafter. He recalled, “Once the guys in my fraternity heard that I was a math major, they all came to me for help because they were struggling in their math classes. And I just enjoyed working with them and, you know, seeing sort of a light turned on, and that’s what made me first started thinking about teaching.”
After finishing school, Navredes’ teaching journey began at Del Mar High School, where he favored teaching Algebra II. Years later, while working at Saratoga High School in the early 2000’s, Navrides voyaged into the world of statistics when he began the school’s AP Statistics program. When he arrived at LGHS in 2006, Navrides brought the program with him. “I think we all kind of want to leave a legacy of some sort,” he admitted, “I basically took over a stat program 15 years ago with two sections of AP Stats, and now we’re up to six sections of AP Stats and four sections of regular stats…I feel like my legacy will be having brought that program to the district.”
Outside of the world of mathematics, Navrides has also contributed to LGHS through sports and collaboration with his colleagues. “I do a lot of announcing for Central Coast Section also; they often hire me to do a lot of championship games, of which — fortunately — LGHS has participated in many,” Navrides described. In addition to leading the CCS and school sports announcements, Navrides also organizes a SuperBowl pool with other teachers, along with performing in the school’s Fractured Follies talent shows.
While Navrides looks forward to spending his retirement traveling, playing pickleball and golf, or even working a part time job just for fun, he admitted that he will miss interacting with his students and colleagues, “you guys [the students] are the ones who kind of keep us young at heart. And my colleagues…we have kind of been in the trenches together, you know, trying to figure out the best way to help you guys have a chance to be successful.” Navrides will stick around to announce some of the LGHS and CCS sports games, though he confessed, “It’s a great place and I’ll miss it a lot. But not miss it so much where I’m not ready to close a pretty big chapter in my life and look to open some new ones.”