From Education to Action: Greg Pesicek and the Road Ahead

By Logan Michael

Most Florida Civics classrooms probably look and feel about the same.

Desks conformed to a clean row with outdated and tacky posters strewn about the wall, grasping at some semblance of interest hidden within the minds of antsy, careless preteens waiting for the bell.

For students in Greg Pesicek’s class at Central Florida Preparatory School, things are a bit different.

Instead of being bored to death with meaningless paperwork or state-curated videos, Pesicek’s students are greeted by a live phone call from none other than their own congressman, Dan Webster of Florida’s 11^th district.

“The look on their faces was pretty awesome,” Pesicek said.

Being a history and civics teacher for quite some time now, Pesicek will be rising to the rank of principal at Central Florida Preparatory School this coming fall.

Even so, education isn’t the only field Pesicek occupies.

Since March 2024, our eccentric Florida history and civics teacher has also been a relentless political organizer and canvasser with the progressive organization Common Power, a non-profit advocacy group working to mobilize voters and volunteers across the country.

This past March, Flagler College senior and Common Power Fellow Lily Reidy invited me to come and canvass in Florida’s surprisingly-contested District 6 special election.

It is during this canvassing that I met the central Florida based schoolteacher, soon-to-be principal and perennial activist, Greg Pesicek.

From densely suburban retiree communities to rural homes separated by acres and acres of farmland, Pesicek led us through countless crevasse of St. Johns and Flagler Counties, knocking on hundreds of doors for the political outsider, Bernie Sanders endorsed, public school teacher and Democratic challenger– Joshua Weil.

While Weil didn’t manage to flip the historically Republican district and win a ticket to congress, he did manage to garner an impressive 42.7% of the vote, potentially indicating declining support for the current administration within the staunchly conservative district.

Although the outcome of the election may be disappointing- for Common Power, its volunteers and of course Weil- Pesicek managed to have some great conversations with voters across the district regarding hot button issues like social security, education and democracy, amounting to a grand time for everybody involved.

“At one door, they thought I was Josh Weil, so I just kind of went with it,” Pesicek said.

After the news of the special election, I checked back up with Pesicek to gauge morale and dig deeper into the teacher’s relatively recent history of volunteering and political advocacy, specifically asking him the hard-hitting question: what spurred you to action in the first place?

“It was definitely the black history—they’re coming after the AP curriculum,” Pesicek said, referring to Gov. DeSantis’ ban on the college-level AP African American studies course designed for high school students.

Pesicek also detested the state’s changes to history standards and curriculum.

“The standards they came out with were lackluster and a bit whitewashed… there was a standard in there about how slavery benefitted certain African Americans,” Pesicek said.

As Florida’s sharp opposition to the college-level course and their vigilant restructuring of black history within public curriculum intensified, Pesicek caught wind of an interesting opportunity.

In May of 2023, Common Power livestreamed a 24 hour ‘teach in’ with black history scholars and historians seeking to teach what Florida wouldn’t.

“During the work week I tuned in… listening to speaker after speaker– these were some of the most powerful, impactful and sadly relevant speakers I had ever heard before,” Pesicek said.

After his encounter with Common Power’s educational livestream, Pesicek researched the organization further, discovering the “learning tours” they offer, and quickly applying for one himself.

“The learning tours put [educators] on sacred and hollowed ground of the civil rights movement… you’re there, you’re in the place and it kind of adds to the spiritual nature of it,” Pesicek said. “When you’re walking across the Edmund Pettus bridge where Bloody Sunday took place… and you’re thinking about the police beating everybody, it hits.”

Pesicek’s travels through the learning tour began in Atlanta, Ga. near the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., later venturing through prominent civil rights sites in Alabama like Burningham, Montgomery and Selma.

Throughout the tour, black history scholars and historians spent ample time detailing the specificities of the civil rights movement and the state violence and repression that took place.

Being a politically conscious history teacher, Pesicek’s learning tour impacted him greatly.

“You leave these things so inspired, you almost feel guilty if you don’t do something,” Pesicek said. “After this organization takes you through the Deep South and gives you the experience of a lifetime, volunteering is the least you could do,” Pesicek said.

While the learning tours clearly benefit the educators by giving them detailed, emotional encounters with the subjects they teach alongside a new arsenal of scholastic facts, there’s also a deeper, more intimate benefit.

Upon completion of the learning tours, Common Power instructors issue a “call to action.”

Learning tour graduates are invited to partake in cross-country canvassing campaigns on the dime of the organization.

Essentially, those who complete the learning tour gain the opportunity to become sponsored by Common Power, sending you to electioneer during important, tight and influential races- all expenses covered.

Oddly enough, most learning tour graduates return to their vocations as educators, bringing their newfound knowledge to the next generation, while leaving Common Power’s advocacy travel offer laying on the table.

Pesicek was different. For him, enhancing his lessons by bringing his intimate experiences with black history and the civil rights movement to his students, while undoubtably invaluable, wasn’t enough.

As soon as the opportunity allowed, Pesicek packed his bags and headed for Columbus, Ohio to canvass for democratic incumbent Sharrod Brown.

After great success, Pesicek was asked to lead two teams of canvassers into the key swing state of North Carolina, specifically Greenville and Rocky Mountain, to influence the results of the 2024 general presidential election.

Then, in March 2025, Pesicek, being a people person, native Floridian and now confident canvasser, ecstatically took up the opportunity to help with Weil’s campaign for Florida’s special election in District 6 where our paths finally crossed.

Pesicek’s journey to become the educator, father, advocate and soon-to-be principal he is today was not a simple journey. You might assume that he simply grew up political, but Pesicek reports that this simply isn’t the case.

Interestingly, Common Power’s encouragement played a key role in his political development.

“At the end of [the learning tour] they’ll challenge you… you have to do more than just vote… they say education to action,” Pesicek said.

Looking forward, Pesicek hopes to bridge the gap between education and action even more.

With his newfound role as school principal, he’s hoping to create better results for teachers and cultivate an environment where educators can take risks, create bold and new diverse curricula and feel free from educational government suppression.

In the political sphere, Pesicek has begun to attend local protests, and plans to remain involved with common power.

The soon-to-be principal has also expressed interest in aiding progressive Democrat Anna Eskamani’s campaign for mayor of Orlando, who, thus far, is the only candidate who’s expressed intent in running for the position.

In our current stage of political disillusionment, apathy and discouragement, it takes courage to learn and act upon that knowledge, even with the knowledge you might fail.

“Even if we lose the race, we provided hope and inspiration to a lot of people, and it shows that you’re willing to speak up and fight for something,” Pesicek said.