Charles Giglio teaches life when he teaches Latin.

“I try to link the present and the past,” he said; that includes “philosophy, theology, medicine, law, art, and architecture.”

A trip to the nation’s capital — the “new Rome” — is “a culmination of their five years with me,” he said. His students at the Gloversville Enlarged School District and their families attend a dinner dance on the banks of the Potomac River, and take the Amtrak train as they travel away from Albany.

“They see a different view of civilization than their hometown,” Giglio said.

On Tuesday, Giglio, a Guilderland resident, was named the 2015 New York State Teacher of the Year by the Board of Regents.

“I’m very proud of my students,” Giglio told The Enterprise. “I’m honored to receive this recognition.”

Nearly a decade ago, Giglio took a mid-year substitute Latin teaching position and turned it into a third career. Formerly, Giglio worked as a teacher and school administrator, then worked with Wildwood Services, eventually becoming the deputy director for the New York State Office of Mental Health Bureau of Forensic Services.

On Christmas Day 10 years ago, he saw a big advertisement for a substitute Latin teacher in the newspaper, he said. He and his wife, Patricia, were both retired from teaching, and his wife encouraged him to apply.

“I thought it was one class. I was shocked to find five levels,” Giglio said. “I also knew the kids needed some help.”

Giglio, who graduated from college 50 years ago, had majored in Latin.

When asked about his choice, Giglio responded with humor, “I not only studied it, I actually teach it…I loved Latin in high school. I had very good Latin teachers, and I decided I wanted to be a Latin teacher.”

Although many schools across the country have dropped Latin courses, Giglio said that the Capital Region offers several programs, including at Bethlehem, Saratoga, and Cambridge. Teachers meet as part of the Eastern Zone Language Association, he said.

“We have a nice array of Latin classes,” Giglio said. Latin is no longer offered for Regents credit, “but we still have to give a Regents-like exam,” he said. “We also grade each others’ papers. We’re not allowed to grade our own. Sometimes, we visit each others’ schools, and put on Latin programs.”

His love of Latin and teaching enriched Gloversville’s program, bringing it to its current level that offers Latin to eighth-graders up to college-credit-seeking juniors and seniors.

“I’ve more than doubled the size of the program,” he said. “We do travel. We go to the Cloisters [in New York City]. We go to Washington, D.C. — the ‘new Rome.’ Every other year, I take them to Italy and Greece. We take the show on the road.”

In Washington, he said, the students and their parents spend four days touring historic sites, including Arlington National Cemetery.

“Romans were all military,” he said, and honor and glory attributed to the military stems from Roman history.

“I was in Washington when President Kennedy was assassinated,” Giglio said. He brings his own experiences to play in the Latin students’ visits.

“We go to the Holocaust Museum,” he said. The group also tours monuments where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, while noting how the monuments and buildings in Washington are in imitation of those found in Greece and Rome, he said. In his classes and on his tours, students talk about how the form of government can be seen as inherited from ancient Rome.

Giglio brings music and art appreciation into the Latin classroom, he said. First, the students listen to music, like Mozart’s requiem, and then go to a local performance.

Giglio has a love for playing the organ, but he stepped down as organist at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Guilderland when he went back into education, he said.

Giglio’s program begins with 25 eighth-grade students.

“Without them, there would be no feeders into the system,” he said. Students in all the levels have similar interests, he said.

“Their Latin studies help them get into some pretty good schools,” Giglio said. “They do pretty well on their SATs,” he said of the college entrance exams originally known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Giglio has stayed at Gloversville as long as he has because “I just absolutely loved the kids,” he said. “We still don’t have anybody to take my place. I’ve made no decision at this time to retire.”

Throughout his adult life, Giglio has advocated for children and adults with learning disabilities. His daughter, despite her learning disabilities, has persevered to have a full and happy life. Giglio continues to advocate as a member of the Learning Disabilities Association of America and the Learning Disabilities Association of New York State.

Giglio’s love for his dog, Tanner, also plays a role in his educational contributions; last year, Giglio and his dog underwent pet therapy training.

“He comes to school with me every other Friday,” he said of Tanner. “That has made a tremendous difference with the staff and the students. You can feel everybody’s blood pressure drop. It’s a great feeling when he’s there.”

Giglio described Tanner, a yellow Labrador, as “a big mush.”

With his Teacher of the Year title, Giglio must travel to speak at education conferences across the state. At an event in Gloversville, Giglio told his colleagues “not to get discouraged. It’s a tough time for teachers.”

The honor was a long time coming. After he was nominated, Giglio had to write eight essays and get six letters of recommendations, which took several months. Then, he was notified he was one of 10 finalists, and two weeks later, that he was one of the top five finalists for New York.

“After that, I got the final call at the beginning of summer,” he said.

Giglio had to keep the honor a secret until Tuesday, but it gave him time to prepare lesson plans for his classes so that substitutes can fill in for him when he travels to speak as Teacher of the Year.

He will go to the White House in April to meet the president.

“It all stems from the goodness of my students in Gloversville,” Giglio concluded, and he wants them to share the experience of the honor. “I’m thinking, ‘How can I take my students?’” Giglio said that he has decided to create a Twitter account so he can tweet about his travels to his students.