John F. Welch College of Business and the College of Education and Health Professions
Majors: Business and Education
Current Occupation: Social Studies Teacher and Connecticut State Representative

When Andres Ayala teaches history, he often starts by asking his high school students to flip through the pages of textbooks and look at the pictures. “They start seeing these amazing photos, and I ask them to analyze those pictures and try to place themselves back there in time. What would you do if you were one of those people in that time? What would you see, smell and feel?”

What has always excited him most about history, Andres says, is looking at primary sources to discover how people lived their lives. “I love to read the letters they wrote to each other and look at old newspapers and artwork. I try to understand what's going on in the world today in the context of historical events.”

Of course, some day in the future, history students are going to do the same, and Andres Ayala will no doubt be in some of those textbook pictures and primary sources. Andres is not just a social studies instructor, but a history maker himself: in addition to being elected State Representative for the 128th District in 2006, Andres served the 137th Common Council District in the City of Bridgeport for five terms. In 2002, he played a key role in organizing the First Annual Walk to End Homelessness in Bridgeport, which he has chaired for five consecutive years, raising over $100,000 to assist the only emergency shelter for families in the city. He also became the first Latino in Bridgeport to become president of the City Council. 

“Balancing my teaching job, politics and my family means that I have to juggle a lot of balls in the air,” he admits, “but I have a great support system. Plus, my education at Sacred Heart taught me to do the best I can for others by sharing whatever I gained through my education to help effect change for a better world.”