A Place to Call Home: Alexander Peña '06
(This article was first published in the Belen Alumni Magazine - Winter 2026 edition.)
Eight years ago, I made one of the most significant decisions of my life: trading the courtroom for the classroom. I have never been happier since.
Eight years ago, I made one of the most significant decisions of my life: trading the courtroom for the classroom. I have never been happier since.
My return to Belen was entirely predictable. While working on superlatives for the yearbook, my classmates selected me as “most likely to become a Belen teacher.” To be honest, as much as I loved Belen at the time, the idea of coming back to teach had never crossed my mind. It wasn’t until my junior year at the University of Florida that I felt an inclination toward education. I began taking courses through the College of Education and earned a minor that included teaching certification.
Nearing graduation and unsure about my future, I scheduled a meeting with Father Willie, my former spiritual advisor and teacher, to discuss a possible career at Belen. I vividly remember sitting in his small office when he picked up the phone and called Carola Calderin, the CFO at the time, to ask what the starting salary would be for a first-year teacher with no experience. Upon hearing her answer, I went home and applied for law school.
I was fortunate to meet the love of my life while studying at Northeastern University School of Law. We graduated together, moved to Miami, and both began working in the legal profession.
After four years of practicing law, I realized it wasn’t for me. I felt unfulfilled and didn’t look forward to going to work in the mornings.
My wife, Kelly, was pregnant with our first child, Oliver ‘35, and we began discussing the changes we would need to make with a little one on the way. It was Kelly who encouraged me to pursue my passion for education. Nearly ten years later, it was the best decision of my life.
Being a Belen alumnus and teaching at Belen allows me to forge the kind of relationships with
students that I treasured so deeply during my own time here. It was alumni like Tommy de Quesada ’96, Juan Vásquez ’92, Alex Zequeira ’90, Rick Raimúndez ’90, and Fr. Willie García-Tuñón, S.J. ’87, who helped form me into the man I am today.
Coming back has been special not only because I can build similar formative relationships with students, but because I now call many of my former teachers, colleagues and friends. I love being able to crack jokes with Mr. Williams and Mr. Padilla and see a different side of them. I continue to learn from great educators like Mr. Collins, who has taken me under his wing and invited me to work with him on the Close Up Program, one of the most impactful experiences at Belen.
Every day, I walk the same halls I once walked as a student, but now with a different purpose. The relationships that once formed me are what I hope to give to others.
It turns out my classmates were right all along.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.