Cal Jordan Powers
WEAVER • WONDERER • WORDSMITH
Educator • Researcher • Leader • Advocate • Organizer
Biography
Cal was born in Baytown, Texas and was raised by a middle-school math teacher and administrator of 25 years, spending many childhood years playing under classroom desks and organizing teacher’s classrooms for fun. This background provided Cal a tremendous respect for educators and inspired a career as a teacher.
In high school, Cal found belonging in serving as a leader in several student organizations and hoped to spend this lifetime serving others. Around this time, Cal discovered a passion for language learning after being encouraged by their French teacher, sending Cal down the path toward becoming a French teacher.
After graduating from high school in 2015, Cal moved to Denton, Texas to attend the University of North Texas (UNT) to earn a Bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish. Studying in the Honors college, Cal designed and published an Honor’s Thesis focusing on college students’ experiences and beliefs about using mobile apps to learn second languages, inspiring a future in research publication.
After graduating from UNT in 2018, Cal spent a year teaching English to middle and high schoolers in rural France. This experience allowed Cal to explore the world, to become a better French speaker, and to confirm that teaching was the right path forward.
In 2019, Cal moved to Monterey, California to begin studying at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) to earn a Master’s Degree in Teaching French as a Foreign Language and Language Program Administration.
For two years at MIIS, Cal developed career skills, gained valuable research publication experience, and learned invaluable lessons while tutoring and co-teaching graduate French courses. In 2021, Cal graduated and began working as a project manager and virtual curriculum developer for a world language textbook company. In 2023, Cal began working at Immerse, an innovative XR language learning platform, teaching English to speakers of other languages located all around the world.
Since 2020, Cal has been working full-time while moonlighting as Founder of Professionall, conducting research, expanding the business plan, and planing for all of the future of the education profession. Collaborating with individual educators, program leaders, and school administrators, Cal has worked through Professionall to conduct needs analysis assessments, advise department administrators and educators to expand their professional expertise, and to tailor professional development plans to meet the needs and constraints of programs and schools around the world.