Timothy James Stiven FRSA shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Timothy James , thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Since April 2021, my students and I have been teaching Afghan girls on line. From that, I now have a 501c3 Flowers for the Future International supporting 300 Afghan girls providing California diplomas in the only peer to peer educational program for Afghan girls utilizing the efforts of students from eleven schools in five different nations from San Diego to Hong Kong and Tbilisi to Kabul.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
This August will be my fourth decade in education teaching Social Science and Humanities in elite private prep and public high schools. I have been teaching at Canyon Crest Academy for 20 years. I started the Envision Conservatory for the Humanities at CCA. I am President of Flowers for the Future International a 501c3 teaching online through peer to peer education to girls wherever it is taken from them. I am also Chair of San Diego International Sister Cities Association, an association or 24 Sister And Friendship Cities societies connecting San Diego through citizen diplomacy, cultural, educational and business development.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
My father was a Vietnam vet. Growing up in San Diego, as a kid in University City, I would go out on our street, wearing my father’s fatigues and salute the Lt. Commanders coming home not just from Miramar, but Vietnam. When the war ended, our family and the Our Mother’s of Confidence parish sponsored family from Vietnam. That stuck with me. When Afghanistan fell to the Tailban, it was my time to step up. What it is to be American is to welcome the immigrant and the refugees.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
The school I support in Kabul was bombed by ISIS in 2018. Even after we starting collaborating with them,the adjoining school was bombed in 2023. Two of our girls were killed in that bombing. Yet, I still have 300 girls willing to risk there lives to be educated. The father told me that if we stopped, her death would be in vain. My students here are safe in one of the best schools in San Diego, with high AP scores, it was my students, on their own, realized what privilege is for- to heal the world. Success is meant to be shared with others.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Those who know me, know that my motto is “If you are having fun, then you are doing it right.” I am a true believer in the philosophy of play. Life is hard, play hard but only if you are having fun doing it. It ain’t play if it ain’t any fun. Those things we all must face in life, find the way that is the most playful.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Fourth grade is when public school students are introduced to California History. Fifth grade is the start of US History and for us, Balboa Park School. Those two years made me who I am today. I may be a fourth generation educator, but it was living in San Diego is surrounded with history, from the Star of India, to the USS Midway to the Kumeyaay at Mission Gorge to the museums of Balboa Park that made me a student of history. I knew my great grandfather, he knew his grandfather, who was a Civil War veteran. For me in the 5th grade, my epiphany was discovering history isn’t something that happens isolated in a textbook but happens to all of us and it is what made us who we all are. From then on, I knew I wanted to teach history.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.flowersforthefuture.org
- Instagram: @timothystiven
- Linkedin: @timothystivenfrsa
Image Credits
Timothy Stiven
