Michael Garcia, a math teacher at Emerson High School, talked about how his career has impacted him as a person and how his students have taught him to appreciate who you are. Garcia is a fan favorite teacher by multiple students, as he has won teacher of the year. 

Garcia started his teaching career right after college and is teaching Algebra 1 and AP calculus with a mix of students starting from freshmen and seniors. Having two different ages has opened Garcia’s eyes to how the two ages can think so differently and taught him many lessons. 

“One of my seniors has taught me to value hard work because a lot of them are super hard working where they stay up till 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 3 a.m. just studying and working hard. A lot of my freshmen, as much as I love their personalities and who they are, they kinda show me to embrace that as well, and not to be afraid to show who they are as a person.” said Garcia.” I feel like that is something we tend to forget as we get older and I think it’s nice to have that youthful energy still constantly.”

Teaching has opened Garcia’s eyes when he sees how many of his students hate having to do math. He wants to help his students see math differently and positively impact them.

“People always have this negative image of, well, I need to be perfect every single time I’m in math class, but like professional mathematicians make mistakes for a living, spending hours and hours, days and weeks making mistakes,” said Garcia. “So I tell my students that it is okay to make mistakes and not be perfect as long as you’re trying, which is the biggest thing. So continue to be patient, and continue to do everything I can do to help my students.” 

Garcia has seen how some of his students take things too seriously or not seriously at all and he is always wanting his students to stay motivational, but see things in a different way where some things can be very important, but some things are not as important as his student makes them. Garcia looks up to this with a quote. 

“‘Take things seriously, not yourself.’ People tend to land one way or another where they are not serious about anything in the world whatsoever, and it’s kind of hard to work with them, or they’re on the opposite end where they take things too seriously and they’re not pleasant to be around. I think if you have a mixture of both things it makes you a more pleasant person to be around where you’re willing to have fun and be silly, but when it’s time to get to work you’re willing to work.” Garcia said. 

With the collective years of Garcia’s teaching career, every day that passes, every interaction with a class or student, and every lesson he has learned from another teacher or student, he has never wanted to change something that has happened. He believes everything happens for a reason. 

“I really do believe that any experience you have in the first place is meant to help you and, within those experiences, it’s really meant to shape you into who you are. So it’s okay to say I wish I did this or I wish I didn’t do this, but at the end of the day, I’m not going to regret anything. I’m going to stand by the decision I’ve made and I always will, that’s just who I am.”