Mr. Kurtti was born in San Diego, California at the San Diego Naval Hospital. His father was a navy doctor who met his mother while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. At age 4 the Kurtti family moved to Minnesota which he considers home. Mr. Kurtti grew up playing hockey and played into high school. He attended the Urban Teacher Program at Metropolitan State University and graduated with a bachelor of science in Life Sciences Teaching.  He started teaching science in 2015 and began working for SPPS in 2016.