Louis Pichardo brings his twin passions for teaching and electrical work to his job teaching electrical installation to career and technical education students at Queens Technical HS in Long Island City.

Pichardo, a third-year teacher, asks his students to be active participants and investigators.

Every lesson is linked to a hands-on project. His students learn Ohm’s law of electricity by building associated circuitry on various installations. They learn the concept of electrical grounding by experimenting with low-resistance paths on which current travels in the event that an electrically hazardous condition exists.

“They come to the discovery that electrical installations must protect against shocking hazards and that electrical safety practices are a priority,” Pichardo says.

To emphasize these concepts, Pichardo has even allowed students to experience a controlled shock in order to understand how seriously they need to take their work-safety practices as electricians.

He revived Queens Tech’s participation in SkillsUSA, a national program that organizes CTE competitions among schools.

Students in SkillsUSA develop projects that will serve their communities. Pichardo encourages students to see themselves as vital to the well-being of the city. “I’m trying to bring back that ‘shop pride,’” he says.

A Queens native and the child of Dominican immigrants, Pichardo excelled in his CTE courses at Transit Tech HS in Brooklyn, where he studied to be a transit technician.

His teachers recommended him for Success Via Apprenticeship, the UFT program that combines college courses with apprenticeships in classrooms and in each student’s chosen industry to prepare them, over five years, to teach in the city’s CTE schools. Pichardo finished the program in three years because he was eager to begin his teaching career.

Now, at 23, Pichardo enjoys an easy camaraderie with his students as he circulates through pairs of 11th-graders wiring circuit boards. “Excellent,” he says to one team. “Now check the polarity.” Then, he asks the students his signature question: “What am I going to ask you to do next?”

Pichardo tries to incorporate student involvement into everything he does. “The students work in teams,” he says. “I pose questions. I use inquiry rather than just lecturing.”

Pichardo is known around Queens Tech as an approachable and compassionate teacher. “His rapport with students is amazing,” says Chapter Leader Jessica Ferrara.

Pichardo tells a story of a student who had aptitude — he scored well on tests — but often skipped school. He pulled the student aside for a heart-to-heart talk. It turned out that the student wasn’t getting support or encouragement at home.

“I said, ‘Listen. I care. It doesn’t matter to me who else cares. I’m telling you that every single day you come into this school I care about you. Why are you trying to act like you’re not smart?’”

The student’s attendance improved.

Pichardo takes pride in motivating students who are unenthusiastic about either electrical installation or school in general. He says his residential-wiring class, in particular, has captivated disengaged students because students connect with the emotional significance of working on someone’s home.

Once students see something that they have wired light up, says Pichardo, “That’s the moment they turn to me and say, ‘This is what I want to do.’”