Mr. Carlos O. Alvarez has been in the field of education for over 20 years as an educator and administrator. He holds two educational degrees: a Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education from St. Thomas University and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

As stated by Oprah Winfrey, “To move forward, you have to give back.” In 2008, Mr. Alvarez was offered the opportunity that he had always hoped for – to give back to his Hialeah neighborhood community. He was selected to develop and lead a unique charter school, City of Hialeah Educational Academy (COHEA), that had an emphasis on public service academies. Through education, he and his team developed a learning environment to help students reach their potential -- a school committed to helping students on their journey to success. The goal of the school was to provide a setting where students were motivated through real-world learning to become leaders in the community so that they too could give back.

Since then he has lead COHEA to six years of being an "A" school, recipient of Newsweek's and U.S. News and World Report Best High Schools in America and the City of Hialeah's Education, Mentoring and Inspiration (EMI) Award for Best School in 2014-2015.

Principal Carlos O. Alvarez is passionate about continuing to lead COHEA to new heights. He continually initiates programs to broaden the academies based on student interests, adding the Law and Legal Studies, Mass Communication, and Education to the original Criminal Justice, Forensic Science First Responder, and Fire Fighter.

He focuses on the conviction that education is a powerful vehicle that leads to personal success. To increase student access to our program, he has expanded the school from the initial population of 89 students to currently housing 940 students. To do this, he, with our law academy students, lobbied the Florida Legislature for funds to construct buildings two and three of our school. A major component of this expansion was the addition of a middle school to the original high school program, creating a 6-12 learning environment for our students. This concept provided the opportunity for many of our middle school students to take high school courses.

Mr. Alvarez is currently working with COHEA staff to initiate an innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) program into our core academic curriculum. The goal of this concept is to guide inquiry, promote problem solving, and encourage innovative and analytical thinking through project-based learning using open-ended creative exploration.

Principal Alvarez is devoted to his students' well-being and academic growth, investing his time and effort to prepare them to compete in a global market. He truly believes in the words of singer/songwriter Luis Fonsi, "Widen the path of opportunities and continue to leave a powerful and positive legacy in this world."