When it comes to prominent educational figures in the City of Santa Clara, there might not be one with a more well-known smile than the beaming pearly whites of Jeremy Advincula. The Monterey, Calif. native and San Jose State graduate has been teaching in the PE department at Peterson Middle School for nearly 25 years.
Having started in 2001, the 2024-25 school year will be his 24th as a Peterson Pirate.
Advincula has also long been a part of the baseball coaching staff at nearby Archbishop Mitty High School. Having been on the Mitty staff in various roles since 2011, Advincula is currently the varsity pitching coach. His Monarchs are fresh off a Cinderella-esque run through CCS, winning the Division I CCS championship.
So, these days, Advincula has even more reasons to smile. Not only did his Mitty squad just shock the local baseball world, but his two sons, Jonah and Jarren, are both continuing their baseball careers post-high school.
Jonah Advincula is currently in single-A ball in the Cleveland Guardians organization and Jarren Advincula is playing in the Cape Cod League this summer after his first year playing for Cal Berkeley.
Advincula gives a lot of credit to the Santa Clara community for helping raise his two sons.
“Santa Clara is just a great community. In junior college, I played with some guys who went to Santa Clara High School and just saw how tight-knit they were, like brothers,” recalled Advincula. “And not that I didn’t grow up with that kind of community, but when you talk about where you want to raise your children and how it takes a village to raise a child, I couldn’t have imagined a better community for my kids to be a part of. Obviously, my wife Karol [Advincula] and I are their parents, but there’s so many individuals in this community that had a hand in molding my children.”
Advincula also coached his children when they were at Westside Little League, the baseball facility in which their father first fell in love with the City.
“Karol was teaching at Westwood; she said she was going to watch one of her students play a T-ball game and I was like, ‘I will go with you,’” recalled Advincula. “As soon as I got to the entrance at Westside, I felt like I was in a movie. It was like slow motion, all the kids hugging their parents, kid in left field with his rally hat on, I was just soaking it all in. I was just thinking this would be a cool place for my kids to grow up in. I knew I wanted to move to Santa Clara after that.”
Moved he did, and he hasn’t moved again. Nearing 25 years now at Peterson Middle School, a feat matched by few other educators.
“The staff at Peterson has been amazing. I wouldn’t have lasted there as long as I have without them,” acknowledged Advincula. “Teachers and coworkers like Mary Fries; she’s, of course, an icon at Peterson. [Drew] Gilmore, who I hired, he’s made our department better. Bob Runyan, my first principal, who hired me, he was awesome.
“It’s funny, though, when I was hired, I told them, ‘Can you give me some time?’ I was like, ‘Do I really want to do middle school?’ Personally, from an educational and social standpoint, my middle school years were my worst; they were tough. But [when I took the job] I quickly felt like I was at where I was needed.”