Photo by Nicole Galvan
Mr. Joel Rodriguez is an U.S History teacher that is always searching for something new, and constantly learning.

Teaching at Bowie is something special for Mr.Rodriguez because he is a Bowie graduate.

“It’s a combination of a couple of things, obviously one of them is the students, they have my heart. Then I would say the community because I was born and raised in this community and so that makes it special,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

Mr. Rodriguez said that working together with his best friend, Mr. Diego Medina is also one of the best things of working at Bowie High School.

Working his first year as a teacher for Mr. Rodriguez was not as he expected, he needed to deal with different kind of students and it wasn’t like he thought it will be.

“My first year of teaching was very interesting, because my first set of students were 18 to 24 years old that were coming from prison, some of them were sex offenders, assault offenders, they were all hard core students most of them were tattooed and they were all school gang bangers,” Mr.Rodriguez said.

Mr.  Rodriguez expectations as being a teacher have changed, he first thought it would be something so difficult and hard but he was wrong, he enjoys every single day at school.

“Being a teacher is hard but it is also fun like no one can imagine. It’s definitely the best experience I’ve had,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

Mr. Rodriguez knows exactly that being a teacher is definitely a hard process. There’s going to be good but also bad moments, but being a teacher will be one of the best experiences anyone can have.

“I would say it’s going to be the best time of your life” Mr.Rodriguez said.

Mr. Rodriguez loves being a teacher but he doesn’t plans on teaching for the rest of his life, he’s a person that likes to try new things and new careers.

“Absolutely not, I love teaching its my passion but I’m also an individual that changes career every 3-5 years,” Mr.Rodriguez said.