Joseph Curry

Educating Philly’s next entrepreneurs: Joseph Curry

School/College: College of Education and Human Development
Degree: MEd, career and technical education, 2022
Hometown: Mayfair, Philadelphia
Current Job Title: Business teacher
Current Employer: Franklin Towne Charter High School

Getting down to business. For many new K–12 educators, the first few years on the job are all about surviving. But for Joseph Curry, EDU ’22, they were for thriving. Immediately after earning his master of education from Temple, Joseph helped launch a business program at his alma mater Franklin Towne Charter High School in Philadelphia’s Bridesburg neighborhood, designing dynamic new curricula around entrepreneurship, marketing and sports entertainment.

Joseph Curry leaning against school lockers.

In his entrepreneurial design class, Joseph helps students develop “fully articulated business plans.” Motivating graduating seniors to complete 30-page capstone projects is rewarding enough, Joseph jokes, but the real joy comes when students tell him the class motivated them to take the next step and study business in college.

Pursuing ‘hire’ education at Temple. As an undergraduate at Holy Family University, Joseph struggled to decide on a degree before ultimately earning a BA in management and marketing. But after realizing his heart was in education, he spoke with a teacher at Franklin Towne, who told him the school was launching a business program and would have an open position in 2022. Joseph then connected with Elizabeth Diamond, interim director of Temple’s Center for Professional Development in Career and Technical Education, who helped him select the right master’s degree on an accelerated timeline to get the position.

Joseph Curry sitting and posing in front of his classroom.

“A lot of my students end up going to college for business, and a lot of them say it’s because of me, that my courses really helped them out. I love teaching, and I don’t see myself ever leaving.”

—Joseph Curry
Business teacher

Advisors at Temple also provided flexibility for Joseph to use his time at Franklin Towne, where he was working as an instructional assistant, to count for student teaching requirements.

Not a done deal. In just his second year in the workforce, Joseph obtained an MBA in general administration from Holy Family. The advanced education has enabled him to continue building new curricula around complicated topics like corporate finance and also teach a dual enrollment business course with Manor College that allows Franklin Towne seniors to earn college credits.