By Benjamin Liang, staff writer
Ever since taking 11th-grade honors history, social studies teacher, Mr. Joaquin Delgado, wanted to be an educator, specifically in history and social studies. His 11th grade teacher, who was very engaging and communicated well with his students, inspired Mr. Delgado to become a community leader, help the youth & eventually become a teacher himself.
What Mr Delgado most appreciated about his history teacher was his openness. He said, “I had an engaging teacher who taught in a very humanizing manner, very casual and conversations that weren’t the most professional, He would talk about anything.”
Although he initially wanted to become a high school teacher, Mr Delgado didn’t take a direct route to becoming a teacher himself. His first roadblock was that Mr. Delgado didn’t do well academically in college, as being a college student athlete was difficult for him to balance. He was on academic probation (lower than a 2.0 GPA) and eventually was disqualified from college.
However, Mr. Delgado still had a heart to work in education. In 2006 he started working at College Track as an Academic Affairs Director, specializing in students’ academic performance and evaluation with parents and teachers.
Then later he became an educational counselor with Magic Zone from 2012-2014, creating infrastructure for the teen and middle school programs aiming for higher student performance and future success. Moving onto 2014-2015 where he was a part of the Director of High School Services, helping students and families with the college application process, and providing academic support and workshops.
Mr. Delgado had been involved with youth development for over 15 years, before he then decided to become a substitute teacher for a semester at Missions High School last year. He enjoyed hanging around students and being a part of their success, in particular, seeing them graduate as it warmed his heart.
After his experience as a substitute, he decided to finish up his teaching credentials last May and become a full-time teacher.
Mr. Delgado takes all of his years of experience working with youth to help shape his values as a teacher. He said, “My style of teaching is very student centered, community centered and to reveal to students how brilliant they are through recognition, their language, uniqueness, culture, and background.”
