Juan Chavez brings Marine service to the El Paso Independent School District

Juan Chavez helps create a transformational Healthy Living program at EPISD

Juan Chavez, Director of Benefits, EPISD

BY BILLY YOST, HISPANIC EXECUTIVE

Juan Chavez served fourteen years as an active-duty Marine, seven in the reserves. He remembers the moment he knew what branch was right for him. Chavez’s grandfather and great-uncle were veterans of World War II, having served in the army in the European and Pacific theaters, respectively. Chavez enrolled in Army JROTC in high school, assuming he’d follow in his relatives’ tradition.

“One day, these guys showed up in their dress blues,” Chavez remembers. “They seemed cocky and in charge. I dropped JROTC almost immediately because I knew I wanted to be a Marine.”

Today, Chavez’s service looks different, as the director of benefits at the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), and while it’s a long way from life as a Marine, the Major’s service-mindset has endured. There may not be lives on the line in his day-to-day life, but Chavez and his team are still finding impactful ways to serve the teachers and staff at EPISD.

To understand Chavez’s motivation and determination, it’s important to know where he comes from. He was raised in a modest one-bedroom duplex in El Paso that contained nine children and four adults. His parents, immigrants from Chihuahua and Juarez, Mexico, relied on Chavez’s father’s sole income while his mother took care of the family. Chavez’s maternal grandmother, a profound influence, set high expectations for her grandson and taught him to read, believing that he would become a licenciado—a professional—one day.

“My siblings are all smart in their own ways,” Chavez explains, “but I tended to be the one who leaned more toward traditional education.”

Juan Chavez, The El Paso Independent School District

(Photo by Leonel Monroy)

Chavez’s work ethic was defined early. He started cleaning houses of the wealthy with his grandmother when he was six. That’s when he came to understand that he wanted more for his life; he wanted to create more opportunities and wealth for himself and his family. That started with the Marines.

During his service, Chavez was first an enlisted aircraft electrician before being accepted into the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP), which allows active-duty enlisted Marines to earn a bachelor’s degree and commission as officers. Chavez was commissioned as a second lieutenant, earning his bachelor’s, and becoming an aircraft maintenance officer.

“It was a high-stress role, and I found that it translated to the private sector in terms of operations, customer service, supply, and logistics,” Chavez explains. “I was deploying aircraft from one hemisphere to the other. That’s where I learned to plan for eighteen months, no longer, no less.”

It’s also where he learned he was a heck of a recruiter. Chavez served an alternate billet, and while he didn’t love it, he found he was very good at it.

The now-captain would eventually transition to the civilian world, learning that the corporate environment required a different intensity than what he was used to.

“It took me a while to learn that you’ve got to stop thinking and communicating like everyone is a Marine,” the director explains. “Adjusting to that dynamic ruffled some feathers, but I eventually got there.”

Chavez came to EPISD in a full-time capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. His team, he realized, was in need of a cultural reset, having cultivated a reputation that seemed more reactive than proactive. It’s where the veteran tapped into his previous life: assess the situation, prioritize, and lead by example.

When ESSR funds allocated for employee mental health went unused, Chavez and his new boss found a significant opportunity to build something. But they had to do it fast and deploy some $300,000 in less than a year. The new director built a coalition of stakeholders, from education, maintenance, athletics, medical, and benefits professionals, and launched the Healthy Living program.

The initiative started humbly with yoga, art, and cooking classes for EPISD employees. It took off. Today, there are 28 different classes and over 400 instruction periods annually. Healthy Living has also become a “one-stop shop” for benefits information, mental health resources, flu clinics, wellness savings, all readily available for employee access.

“I don’t know every single school district in the area, but I do know that there isn’t another program like this around,” Chavez explains.

Outside of his role, Chavez is happily married to a teacher, and they have an eleven-year-old son. The father of four serves as his son’s baseball coach. A Marine father as a little league coach sounds intimidating, but Chavez says he does his best to remember that not everyone’s a Marine.

Hispanicexecutive.com