Pacifica Stories

Steven Eno is making waves at Pacifica in his first year as an AP Calculus teacher, most notably with his implementation of Project Leo, a classroom operating system that he designed which increases student engagement and gives teachers and schools better data about learning.

Mr. Eno grew up in El Segundo with his older brother and twin sister, along with his mother of Italian heritage and father of Japanese heritage. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and began working for a Human Management Software company called Saba Software as a Technical Consultant. While in college, Mr. Eno says that he was able to build a love of learning and a system to expand his curiosity with peers and mentors, which he touts is more valuable than playing the game of school/success. After four years in this field, he made the jump to teaching. Mr. Eno launched the engineering program at El Segundo High School where he taught engineering, computer science, physics, and earth science. He also coached football, baseball, and was the robotics team and cybersecurity team mentor. However, this is not when he settled in California.

Steve and his family moved to Maryland where he then taught at a private PK-12th grade school and launched the Social Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Design program. During their move back to California, he worked for several education startups such as Spike Lab, Synthesis, and 2Sigma School. Once settled back in the South Bay, Mr. Eno began working at Da Vinci Schools as the Mechanical Engineering Coordinator. This is where he built Project Leo, which he has now brought to Pacifica.

Amidst career changes and cross-country moves, Mr. Eno has found purpose in his faith.

“When I started teaching and coaching, I ran into a lot of challenges that I realized I couldn’t solve with my own strength,” said Eno. “My pastor/mentor told me to read the book ‘Lead for God’s Sake,’ and that changed my outlook on my career. I no longer had to try to be the caricature teacher/coach I had in my head. I could just focus on serving those I have been blessed with getting the opportunity to work with.”

As he joins Pacifica’s faculty, Mr. Eno is looking forward to sharing all the amazing math and science that is intertwined with God’s creation. He says that he’s already had so many profound conversations about Christianity and philosophy with other teachers, and enjoys the weekly chapel time. Mr. Eno hopes his students appreciate the bigger picture as they pass through his classroom.

“If you take time to step back and see the magnificent connections in the universe, life gets much more rich, beautiful, and interesting,” he said. “Don’t get caught up in the race for success, instead find your unique way to add value to the world.”

In his free time, Mr. Eno enjoys continuing to build Project Leo to help more students and teachers. We are so excited to have him at Pacifica!