“Who has great science news today?” If you ever had Mr. Upperco for marine science, you would know that this is the first question you would be asked upon your arrival to class, and if you didn’t have great science news, he was prepared to share his with you.  With great enthusiasm Mr. Upperco teaches marine science, coaches golf, and sponsors the AWARE environmental club.

Mr. Upperco has been teaching at Miami High for 36 years. “I really love teaching scie

nce, because it is always changing, so there’s always something new to teach,” said Mr. Upperco. “The hard part is discipline and students who don’t want to be there.”

He says that coaching golf is different than any other sport, because most of his golfers have never played before and an individual sport is very different from a team sport.

Coaching golf also has its rewards. “Almost every golfer who has played for me has always come back to thank me,” he said. Mr. Upperco enjoys the experience of working with young adults and watching their progress and confidence grow.

His favorite part of being a golf coach is that he gets to teach something he loves to do in a really nice environment. “It is different from many sports, because it is a lifetime sport and it can very advantageous in the business world,” he said.

Mr. Upperco has been a golf coach at Miami High for 33 years. It all started when he was coaching football and was approached to coach golf during the off season. “The golf coach retired back in 1983,” said Mr. Upperco, who had played golf in junior high and high school for fun, mostly at summer camps. Mr. Upperco states that the principal at the time, Diego Garcia, and the athletic director, Tiger Nunez, were the ones who asked him to be the school’s golf coach.

Besides being a golf coach Mr. Upperco is the marine science teacher at Miami High. “I’ve always enjoyed learning, and when you teach, you are always learning and updating your knowledge,” he said.

Miami High was Mr. Upperco’s first real job. Before that he had only worked miscellaneous summer jobs. Back in 1980, the principal at Miami High, Curtis Knowles, called him up and invited him to work for Miami High. “I played football at the University of Miami at the time, and they had ties with Miami High,” he said.

Apart from being a marine science teacher and golf coach, Mr. Upperco is also the advisor for the AWARE club here at Miami High, which is an environmental club, where he helps students understand the importance of keeping our world and environment clean and protecting species that are endangered.

Mr. Upperco is the second oldest of the four Upperco brothers. He said, “Always being compared to my brothers was both an advantage and disadvantage in high school. It made me strive to a greater level and I considered myself very fortunate in high school.”

Childhood dream jobs for Mr. Upperco were park ranger or something outdoors like being farmer; being a teacher was not what he wanted to be. His father, however, wanted one of his boys to go into public service, and Mr. Upperco believes his personality was the best to do this job.

Mr. Upperco was born in near Baltimore, Maryland, in the small town of Upperco, where almost all his family lived.  He grew up as a child in Orlando, where he graduated from Boone High School in 1975. “I enjoyed my high school years. I was fortunate to have an older brother who paved the way for me, one year ahead, and a younger brother one year behind me,” he said.

His favorite subject in high school was physical education, because he always excelled in all sports especially football, baseball, and track. “High school during the 70’s will always be memorable,” he said. “I am still in contact with many of my high school friends today.”

Some of his favorite high school memories were being named Athlete of the Year, going to the Sadie Hawkins Dance and Prom, going to the beach every weekend, playing football games, and doing road trips with his high school friends.

He graduated from the University of Miami in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in science. He has been married for over 36 years to the love of his life, Elizabeth, whom he met at the University of Miami. They have 4 children; the oldest is a girl followed by 3 boys.

Fishing, camping, being outdoors and going to local sporting events in Miami are Mr. Upperco’s favorite things to do. When he is not working at school, he usually reads science fiction books, watches sports, and spends time with his family and friends.