Name
Joe Dubina
Age
36
Company/Organization
Baseline Middle School (South Haven Public Schools)
What Does Your Company/Organization Do?
Public school in South Haven, Michigan.
Education
Bachelor’s Degree Adrian College
Accomplishments
-South Haven Pride Award -Most Inspirational Teacher Award 2018, 2024 -Adrian College Athletic Hall of Fame -College/High school baseball coach for 16 years -Proud father of two children JJ (3) and Maggie (1)
What else do you hope to accomplish by the age of 40?
Continuing to impact young lives through teaching and coaching as well as pursuing a masters degree. Being a role model to and raising my two children JJ and Maggie with my wife Casey. I would also like to get my captain’s license.
Current City
South Haven, Michigan
Place You Were Born
Canton, Ohio
What was your first job?
Breakfast runner at Jack’s South Town Diner in Canton, Ohio.
What’s the best advice you ever got?
Before making a big decision “sleep on it”.
Who inspires you most?
My mother, father, and brother have inspired me since I was young to work hard and be resilient. My wife inspires me everyday to be more patient, caring, and to work together as parents. My children inspire me to be a role model and also to be as good of a father as my parents were for me. I also am inspired by the very hardworking, creative, and dedicated coworkers around me at Baseline Middle School.
That one thing about you we’d be most surprised to learn.
I am very afraid of heights and this fear seems to grow with age.
What do you love to do in your downtime?
Fishing, playing with JJ and Maggie, camping, golfing, anything outside
What book are you reading now?
Little Miss Suzy, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and an array of Bluey books nightly.
Volunteer activity you love the most.
Baseball camps for our young baseball players in South Haven.
What motivates you to give back to your community?
The students I teach and people I have met since I moved here over a decade ago. I have loved and been proud of where I live since I had the opportunity to move here and have chosen this community to raise my own family in.
What Superpower would you most love to have?
Teleporting would be my choice. We have a lot of family and friends we love that are not in the area and it would be so nice to be able to spend more time with them. We unfortunately miss a lot of special events and holidays with some of our closest family and friends, and teleporting would be an easy choice to fix that.
What would you like to leave behind as your legacy once you are gone?
All I want to do is set a good example for my own children, the students I teach, and the players I coach. I want to be remembered as being passionate about what I do, and I always try to remind young people that no one ever looks back and regrets giving 100%.
What does the honor of being named to the 40 Under 40 most mean to you?
It means a lot to me because I am not someone who personally thinks I would be nominated for this award. I am a public middle school teacher that teaches and works alongside a lot of other extremely dedicated and hardworking educators and administrators. I inspire young people, am passionate about what I teach, and strive to be a great role model, but so do dozens of other dedicated educators that I have encountered in my career. When I think of who I work beside and how inspired I am by the people around me, I could give many of my fellow colleagues this award. It means a lot to be recognized out of not only hundreds of teachers in the area that are also deserving, but all the other young professionals also impacting their communities in Southwest Michigan.
