First-year teacher Gonçalo Sousa has many tricks up his sleeve. He teaches math, Portuguese and can do magic, too.
“Being a new teacher is fun and exciting,” said Sousa, who is teaching geometry, precalculus and AP Calculus. “I have a big passion for teaching.”
This is Sousa’s first year teaching and he is the new math teacher, a position that has been vacant since early 2022. Portuguese has not been offered at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) before, so Sousa will be taking on a big change within the school. Adding new language classes is a way for schools to add more diversity and help everyone feel included. As he is also a magician outside of school, he hopes to add magic to his lessons but has not been able to just yet.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I loved magic,” Sousa said. “I performed every New Year’s Eve for my family with my little magic kit that I got for Christmas.”
When he first realized magic was something he wanted to pursue, Sousa was 12 years old and getting ready for a new performance for his family on New Year’s Eve. He was bored of doing the same tricks every year so he tried something new. He went on YouTube to find some new tricks and that is when his passion grew.
“After learning tricks on YouTube, I got excited,” Sousa said. “I just kept learning more and more and I loved it. There was a passion that sprouted in me and I picked it up and ran with it.”
A couple years later when he was 14, he moved from Portugal to Pasadena and then to Hollywood, where the entertainment business thrives. When he was 17, he got his first chance to perform at The Magic Castle. He has been performing there for five years. A couple years after that, he received the Junior Achievement Award from the Academy of Magical Arts.
“I am very proud of the award because I was just a little boy from the north of Portugal and 20 years later I am giving a speech in a theater in Hollywood in front of 800 people,” Sousa said.
