Faces of GNBVT- Karl Sterling

Meet Mr. Karl Sterling, a science teacher at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School. Mr. Sterling has been teaching at Voc-Tech for 14 years and was previously an EMT instructor at Pre-Hospital Training in Fall River and Emergency Medical Institute in Cape Cod. He attended BCC, Rhode Island College, and UMass Dartmouth. He majored in multidisciplinary sciences with minor concentrations in medical laboratory science and gerontology. While he was studying, he started substituting on the side for some extra cash. He fell in love with teaching and discovered that it was something he wanted to do permanently. 

Many students love Mr. Sterling for his student-based teaching style. Mr. Sterling says his biggest teaching pet peeve is when teachers focus more on federal and state mandates than supplying knowledge to the students. He teaches students proper ways to take notes to get the most out of them, hoping that this skill prepares his students for college. Mr. Sterling has many passions that relate to his students, making his class interactive and less like a lecture. His classroom is home to dozens of Halloween decorations and he is an expert in all things Star Trek and Halloween. 

Mr. Sterling’s class has also become a secure safe space for students to truly feel themselves. He encourages freshmen that their feelings of awkwardness and confusion are completely normal and how every first-year feels. He assures them that in the upcoming months the school will become a new home where they can feel at peace. As for his senior classes, he encourages them to get out and explore, Sterling says, “you have to get out into the world to find it, life will not come looking for you.”

Article and Picture by: Alyssa Picanso, Senior Media Technology