PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The MATH TEACHER
As part of classroom preparation today, teachers lead
classes through live shooter drills, training for the
possibility of emergency situations. Port St. Lucie’s
Amorce Jean Baptiste — known as “Mr. J.B.” to his
John Carroll High School students — is himself a survivor of
an emergency.
In 2013, Jean Baptiste was a math professor in Cap-Haitien,
Haiti. “Professors in Haiti get involved; they want to influence
students for good,” he says. Jean Baptiste belonged to
an organization that openly criticized the government — a
government that tried to silence his voice.
He was teaching a class when suddenly, a group of armed
intruders rushed in and began beating him. Although the assailants
were dressed like police, they wore masks. “The students
loved me,” he says with a wide smile. “They screamed
and came to my aid. They saved me.”
The government was not the only challenge to living in
Haiti. Growing up, Jean Baptiste watched his father work hard
as a farmer, waiting for rain. “I knew I didn’t want to do that.”
One of five siblings, two of whom passed away, Jean Baptiste
had a difficult childhood. “I was not loved or listened to
— but that taught me to love and listen. I wake up every day
not looking at my past, because that would make barricades
to what I want to build today. The things that happened to
me have made me who I am today.”
Moving to Port-au-Prince after the school attack, Jean
Baptiste continued to teach, knowing that safety remained an
issue. He and his wife, Martine, decided to leave, but where
should they go? His wife did not have a visa for France,
where Jean Baptiste’s younger brother teaches science. She
did, however, have a relative in Port St. Lucie.
Martine’s cousin picked them up from the airport in Fort
Lauderdale, offering them a place to stay and encouraging
them to consider the area as a long-term solution. “I thought,
Port St. Lucie Magazine 47
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BY ELLEN GILLETTE
ELLEN GILLETTE
Math teacher Amorce Jean Baptiste instructs students in geometry class at John Carroll High School. In his first year of teaching at JCHS, Jean Baptiste has
been dubbed “Mr. J.B.” by his students. He moved to the United States to avoid political problems in his homeland, Haiti.