Donovan Tudela, a math teacher at Saipan Southern High School in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), believes education is the key to preparing students for the real world. As a young educator, he places a strong emphasis on preparing students to be college- and career-ready before they graduate from high school.

Tudela also serves as a member of the CNMI Math Professional Learning Community Core, where he works with other educators to improve mathematics teaching and learning in the CNMI. In 2018, Tudela took part in an extensive project to create a fourth-year math course for high school seniors to help them place into college-level mathematics courses. Inspired by his former high school teachers, Tudela decided to pursue teaching as a career with the hopes of making a difference in mathematics learning.

In 2017, he received a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education from the University of Guam. In December 2020, he received a master’s degree in education specializing in integrating technology in the classroom from Walden University. He plans to pursue a doctoral degree in mathematics education to return to the CNMI and give back to his island community.