Call Me MiSTER alumnus inspires the next generation
From MiSTER to Mister P, Jordan Puch is redefining leadership in the classroom.
This story appears in the spring 2026 issue of MSU Denver Magazine.
Jordan Puch — or “Mister P,” as his third grade students call him — isn’t your average 24-year-old. The Green Valley Elementary School teacher is a 2024 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s inaugural Call Me MiSTER program, and he’s on a mission to educate, serve and inspire young students. “I have a purpose here, a huge purpose,” he said. “I want to be the teacher I needed when I was a child.”
Launched in South Carolina in 2000, CMM is a nationwide undergraduate teacher leadership program that recruits, trains and places Black male teachers in classrooms.
Although Puch had always excelled in school, he never considered a career in education. That is, until he met Call Me MiSTER Director Rashad Anderson, Ph.D., on a field trip to South Carolina State University. They clicked immediately, and Anderson offered Puch a place in the CMM program on the spot.
After some reflection, Puch accepted, referencing a favorite Bible quote: “It was time to ‘do away with childish things’ and start on a new journey with something bigger.”
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Puch enrolled in the CMM program at SCSU under Anderson’s wing, often joining the renowned author, speaker and education consultant at conferences around the country. One such conference in Denver included a panel of public school students. Puch remembers one student in particular.
“He was astonished at the fact that I was going to be a teacher because of, like, how I walk, talk, move, and my mannerisms. And he was shocked that (Anderson) was a college professor because he had never seen it before.”
When Anderson accepted a position at MSU Denver’s School of Education to start the Mile High MiSTER program in 2023, Puch and three other MiSTERS accompanied him, packing into a car for the cross-country move.
“We always say teaching is a noble profession, but I thought it was a noble move for all of us to kind of leave what we’ve known for so long, and in an attempt to build something new on a whole different side of the United States,” Puch said.
The real work came in launching the new program in Colorado. “We had all seen what a thriving, successful Call Me MiSTER Program looks like,” Puch said. “And to build that from the ground up was going to be a tall task, and so we had to make some huge adjustments in our lives.” Puch and his cohorts did not go out partying like many college twentysomethings. “We really had to become stewards of Call Me MiSTER.”
Despite those hurdles, Puch leaned on his spirituality. “The true test of a man is not where he stands during times of comfort and leisure, but during times of conflict and controversy,” he said. “And those are the times that really made me who I am.”
Today, Puch is Mister P. His Denver students connect with his youthful energy and TikTok savvy, and also because he’s a Black man leading a classroom. Even the Educational Leader Award, which he earned from the Colorado Men of Color Collaborative, isn’t his primary motivator. “I’m truly grateful, blessed and humbled to have that award,” he said, “but I operate as if I need to be the teacher of the year every year, regardless of whether I get the award or not.”
“I just remember back to the child that I was,” he said. “And I think that if (students) can see that a Black man can lead their classroom with love, love them, and give them everything they need, it can have a huge impact on them down the line and for the rest of their lives.”
