How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
The path to success isn’t paved for people of color. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories as we learn how to say Success in Spanglish.
How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
From the Bronx to the Blackboard: Embracing Dual Identities and Educational Resilience - Edwin Berroa
Edwin Berroa is an Assistant Principal inside the New York City public school system. Has been in education for over a decade. Edwin has a pulse in building capacity and building community to ensure success. Growing up in a Dominican household, he’s been around people in his family that have seen struggles, and have been resilient in their efforts. He believes in the elevation and social emotional wellness of students, a well as Inclusion and equitable access to the next generation of tomorrow’s great minds.
Summary:
As I sit across from Edwin Berroa, a sense of nostalgia washes over me. Two decades of friendship have led us to a rich conversation that digs into the heart of the Afro-Latino experience in the Bronx during the crack epidemic of the 1980s. Our discussion sheds light on the resilience of minorities, the cultural dance of dual identities, and the significant role education plays in shaping the future. Edwin, with his Dominican heritage and passion for social emotional wellness, joins me in a celebration of perseverance that defines the Spanglish experience—a tale of triumph over adversity that resonates with all who strive for success against the odds.
Transporting back to the hallways of middle school, we reminisce about a time when courage was the antidote to bullying, a lesson that has only magnified in importance with the dawn of the digital age. The classroom, a microcosm of society, now demands a safe haven for students—a cause that I champion as an assistant principal. We delve into the evolving challenges educators face amidst a post-pandemic world and the paramount importance of strengthening school-family connections. It's a candid exploration into how personal experiences fuel our dedication to nurturing safe, supportive environments where every child is empowered to stand tall.
Reflection and growth are the cornerstones of this journey—whether it's revisiting the wisdom of influential educators like Dr. Hodge, who ingrained in us the power of financial literacy, or navigating career transitions that transform one's perspective on leadership in education. Our introspective dialogue culminates in profound reflections on mentorship, the lessons learned from setbacks, and the importance of instilling resilience in the next generation. It's a conversation that promises to ignite a spark within educators, parents, and leaders, as we share philosophies on fostering communities that champion lifelong learning and success. Join Edwin and me in this heartfelt expedition through the landscapes of education, identity, and personal growth.
See more at www.successinspanglish.com
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Intro Song: Regaeton Pop - Denbow Ambiance
This is Raul Lopez, and you're listening to how Do you Save Success in Spanglish? The path to success isn't easy For minorities and people of color. Many attempt this journey with little to no guidance. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories of perseverance so that together, we can learn how to say success in Spanglish what's good, mi gente, Welcome back. It's your boy, Raul. Thanks for joining me here on how Do you Say Success in Spanglish. Today I have a very special guest, Edwin Mbiroa. How are you doing, Edwin?
Raul Lopez:Raul, what's good brother.
Raul Lopez:Chilling man. How's it going, man? It's been a while, I'm glad, Edwin Bro what's good, brother, Chilling man.
Raul Lopez:How's it going, man it's been a while.
Raul Lopez:I know it's been far too long, man. Far too long? Yeah, it really has. I've known him for quite some time, since I was a young little kid.
Raul Lopez:What it's been like 20 years now.
Raul Lopez:It's been like 20 years now, bro. It's crazy, right. It's been like City public school system has been in education for over a decade. Edwin has a pulse in building capacity and building community to ensure success. Growing up in a Dominican household, he's been around people in his family that have seen struggles and have been resilient in their efforts. He believes in the elevation and social emotional wellness of students, as well as inclusion and equitable access to the next generation of tomorrow's great minds. Edwin, welcome to the show.
Raul Lopez:Thank you. Thank you very much for having me, my brother.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, man, I'm really happy that you're here. I know you got. You know I have my long list of people and you know I've always you've always held the special place in my spot since like early on and when I first started college. When we started college, we went through the fraternity and I was like, well, when you hit me up, like oh, I'm so glad, I'm so glad you hit me up, dude.
Raul Lopez:So, but I guess to start off, you know, tell me you know who is Edwin Baroa. Oh, okay, all right. So just like you started, you know my family is from the Dominican Republic. I guess, to start off, come from a family of having five sisters and a brother. I'm the youngest of seven. We're kind of like the Latino Brady bunch, if you will, because my mom had her previous relationship and had a daughter. My dad had previous relationships. I had four daughters and then when they got together they had my brother and me. From there we were raised in the Bronx, just a kind of backstory. My parents they came to the United States in the 60s. My mom first started in Puerto Rico. My grandmother, working in an umbrella factory, took all her kids over to Puerto Rico just to get a better life because DR just wasn't it.
Raul Lopez:And then one thing led to another. They came to new york uh, my dad was always a family friend, so they got to know each other, they found a relationship and then that kind of just springed off. My, uh dad worked all of his life as a what they call a platform worker, which is a a person that works the back of the actual 16 trailer trucks. Um, just to put all the merchandise in it and then my mom was a daycare teacher up until her retirement nice, awesome.
Raul Lopez:So so what was? Uh? I don't want to make you sound old, what? Was life before living in the bronx when you were growing up, because that was a completely different time than the way things are now yeah, man, I mean like growing up in the 80s.
Raul Lopez:I mean it was during the crack epidemic you know so like I still remember being on the first floor because we were raising a project. You know so, john Adams Houses was my projects and my mom still lives there. But I still remember living on the first floor and looking outside my window and all you see is crack box. You know, it was just like they said man, it was a dangerous thing around. You know one of the. You know you had to be mindful in reference to making relationships and building relationships and walking a particular way and not being out at a certain time. You know so my parents really took that to heart and living in that part of town was also making sure that.
Raul Lopez:You know cops didn't see you as a threat you know, because in that environment you know, like they didn't know what they were working with. You know you're in a housing development where there's four buildings around you. Each one is 20 floors up, you know. So you don't know who know who's who you know, but definitely do remember my encounters of you know, uh, getting patted down for no particular reason, just because they were just being precautious. But you know, um, I was never one of those kids to get into trouble, so I was okay, yeah, yeah, and I mean it is a struggle.
Raul Lopez:I mean people see videos and movies now in new york. It's very glamorized and very like, amazing and beautiful. And then you watch movies from the 80s. New York was a different image, even on screen, where you know, I remember coming to visit family in Queens in the 90s and things like that and it was, it was a scarier version of New York, but you also had, you know, you being kind of living dual roles in Latino and being Afro-Latino. Oh, absolutely, you know it hits all over the place, right?
Raul Lopez:Yeah, that one like that's actually a good point. Like, yeah, I tend to dabble in that world. I'm saying like you know, because you know, being in the Dominican house, of course my first language is Spanish, you know, but also living in this particular area, you area, everyone thought I was African-American. So I love the fact that I could dabble between both worlds because it made me who I was. I'm able to code, switch, speak this way, but then speak a completely different way.
Raul Lopez:But I also love it because I can catch people off guard and that's been a constant thing where people first thing, the first thing they're going to be like you speak Spanish Like yeah, you know. It's constant, you know. I got it as a matter of fact, the first when I started working at my new school. You know no one really knew that I was Dominican until I started talking Spanish. But then you know it. Just, everybody just knows. Now you know.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, exactly, I mean's. It's hard to miss when, when forget you. It's hard to forget you when they meet you. It's like it was like oh yeah, we know, everyone, I was like it was like yeah, okay yeah, exactly so. But um, also in in part of your interview uh your pre-interview you talked about you know there were some obstacles you had to overcome. You know growing up, you know speech impediment, weight bullying and things like that. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Raul Lopez:absolutely um all right. So growing up, I guess um, you know my family growing up always called me, you know um always, because I I have speech impediment. I just started, you know um, I'm happy that I was never. I never had to do like speech therapy or anything to try to fix it. But I vividly remember fresh, uh, fresh out of kindergarten, first grade, second grade, I had the speech impediment where it just took me forever to just say what I had to say. You know um, it got so bad where it took me forever to ask the teacher can I use the restroom? And I wound up, you know, just urinating on myself.
Raul Lopez:Oh, no, no damn it, um, but nonetheless you know that it became up and down up until junior, high school, high school, but then in high school, that's where I guess it started to fade away, only because I felt more accepted you know, like the friends around me didn't really care the fact that I had a speech impediment.
Raul Lopez:You know, they just liked me. For me, you know, um, I don't know what triggered in my adolescent years or or how it changed, but one thing is for sure that high school they really slowed down a lot you know, there are some times where you know it tends to just flare up because I might be excessively nervous or maybe I don't have the words to say, but you know it's pretty much gone good and you mentioned you.
Raul Lopez:You were bullied as well, growing up a bit yeah, uh, bullying happened in middle school.
Raul Lopez:You know, um, it's one of those where, you know, I I've never been one to get into any physical altercations, you know, uh, to this day, not on what I know about in the physical fight, you know, um, but middle school was that that time where I guess I was being tested. You know, it's the testy waters, you know. So I still remember the actual uh bullier, or you know, I won't mention his name. You know, it's the testy waters, you know. So I still remember the actual uh bullier, or you know, I won't mention his name. You know, but, uh, that individual you know was bullying me to just try to do his homework. You know, I guess I had a knack for just doing my work or whatever.
Raul Lopez:But one thing led to another, it was just like, you know, eventually the bullying had to stop because I got fed up, you know, and that was that one day I just stood up, I was like no, I'm doing this, like so what you going to do, you know, and at that moment that's when he stopped. You know, that was I think it was eighth grade, if I'm not mistaken you know, it was just physically stopped. He just stopped asking for homework stopped everything, but I felt really proud of myself because I was able to actually overcome that and I and I was like you know what, whatever happens right now, is gonna happen if we gotta throw down, I'll fake it till I make it, but we gonna do this you know.
Raul Lopez:But but he definitely backed off and that was my, I think my only incident of being bullied, but it was something that was really annoying and I think it was a little bit traumatizing because, you know, you felt helpless. You felt like, um, people around you saw it, but they just kind of just let it be. You know, some people didn't intervene and I wish they did intervene, but, you know, thank goodness I was able to handle it.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, it was different back then when we did stuff, because I mean, I think, very similar growing up, you know, smart, overweight, quiet at the time. I was real quiet back then. I'm not quiet now, but I was quiet. I was very quiet back then. I'm not quiet now. I was very quiet. I was the quiet kid that was smart and I was just a big guy and uh and so, yeah, same thing. You dealt with your level of bullies for whatever reason, because they knew you were the quiet kid and picked up and same thing I had a situation where a bully picked me up the, it might ended differently.
Raul Lopez:I did end up, uh, getting in a fight and breaking his nose, so it was it was on a different end of the spectrum.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, what you dealt with, but it was also, you know, a lot of same thing, like every day was dealing with the same thing, the same things, and so no knowing the stuff that you dealt with, like that back in the day as a, as a teacher now oh, I'm sorry assistant principal, now you know how does that impact some of what, what you do like, how you look at things in school now?
Raul Lopez:that's a good question. I actually never really thought about it that way. I think it impacts it in a sense that I'm always on the lookout. You know, like I don't want a student to feel like helpless, you know, or that someone is taking advantage of them, simply because you know of their niceness or because of their humbleness. You know, like, everyone deserves a free shot, to be free and to do what they need to do. But you know, everyone needs to put in their own effort. You know, um, definitely feel that you know the individual, the students, the community needs to be protected.
Raul Lopez:You know, and, as an assistant principal, I think my, my role is to make them feel safe and make them feel comfortable in their own skin so they don't have to put that facade on.
Raul Lopez:You know, um, as a matter of fact, uh, we had a assistant principal meeting a couple weeks ago. It was like where we were talking about this, because a lot of times you have a lot of the youth that you know, um, some of them are straightforward, but some of them tend to hide, and they hide in a particular shell but they don't show their true self. So imagine just having like an outer layer skin that you can just unzip, you know. So a lot of times the student you know tends to show off or just be that comical kid. That's not their nature. Or maybe they might be defiant or just argumentative, but that's not their nature. But there might be an underlying reason, you know. But I think part of it is building that relationship to make sure that they're seen, you know, and part of my mission, I think, is to make sure that these kids are seen, you know when you're seen, you're able to perform better, you're able to do better, you know, but you have to build that connection and relationship with the kid.
Raul Lopez:You know a lot of the kids. You know they come from different personalities, different homes, different situations. You know got a lot of kids that come from single family homes. You know, and they're dealing with a lot, a lot more than I think you and I were dealing with back in the eighties and nineties.
Raul Lopez:Oh, really it's something. I. I mean we think about how much worse things were like, probably socioeconomically, like in the city, but there's so much more interactive with kids nowadays when it comes to the internet and like they can't they can't escape anymore, that it's like I have a daughter.
Raul Lopez:You know she's 10 and she's about to do middle school and I know when you talked about middle school being that transition between good kid and punk, I mean I was a really good kid until middle school. You know what I mean? I was like I never got detention, I never got anything until middle school. Not that I was a horrible kid, but you know, it's a, it's a big, like you said, testing, testing grounds.
Raul Lopez:Absolutely Listen. Middle school. In my eyes middle school is meant to. It is what I call the testing years. You know, like you tend to figure out a little bit about who you are. You know, high school is kind of what builds you up, but college is what defines you.
Raul Lopez:You know. So like those are the incremental steps. In that middle school you're trying to find yourself, you're trying to be socially awkward or in awkward. You're trying to fit in High school. You're're trying to be socially awkward or in awkward, you're trying to fit in high school. You're still trying to fit in. But now you know, adolescence is kicking in. Now you get more rationale in your thinking, you know, and you're building that character. But then in college, that's where, like it's like you know, you're chipping off all those imperfections so that way you can become that better person yeah, and I agree.
Raul Lopez:Like I said, I remember my like. I have my daughter. She's going to start middle school next year. I remember my transition to middle school and I am scared just to see what's coming next.
Raul Lopez:But you know, I trust her, I love her in middle school and high school transition is to not let go. You know, and and what I mean by that is, you know, depending on what era you were raised in, a lot of our parents had a tendency to make sure that you did your whatever academics from middle school to high school right, but they never let go. They never gave you that level of independence right. Today in age, if you kind of look at it, a lot of parents tend to give a level of independence, but you shouldn't. This should be the time that you grasp on a little bit tighter, because you know this is that firm, fine line that a student can do a lot of right or a lot of wrong.
Raul Lopez:I'm not telling you to be a helicopter parent, but at the same time you have to be the parent. You know you have to take that charge and make sure that you are looking out for their best interest, because they're still a child. You know, like, once high school is done and whatever, and depending on the dynamics of the household, you feel 18 is good enough, all right, cool. You feel 21 is good enough, all right. But that 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 years, those are pivotal man like, if, I think if a lot of times and I've seen it with a lot of parents, you know they how do I put it? It's more friend than parent. That makes any sense and being a friend is cool, but sometimes that friendship doesn't allow you to see the parent side, you know. So therefore, like you know, you have to take that parent to control and make sure that the kid is doing right. You know because if not, then you might have a hiccup in your hand that you may not know what to do.
Raul Lopez:You know, we have a lot of parents that come to us and they literally say I don't know what to do with my child. But you know, I don't know how the upbringing was with the child, but you can definitely tell that there's a difference in dynamic. It's not the overprotective parent, it's not the you know, like they all want what's best for the child. But I think that's that missing link of like this is the line that you don't cross.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, and parenting is always a balancing act, because you never know. You know, sometimes you give too hard, sometimes you don't give enough, and you never know until it's too late sometimes. So, yeah, no, I totally agree with you, man. But I mean, I love my daughter, I'm the same way, I'm still your parent, I'm still your dad. You know, I'm still going to make rules, exactly, you know, like you know having that super love always great.
Raul Lopez:You know the kids need the love. The kids need that consistent love and and affection. But also, at the same time, like you, gotta hold them accountable yeah you know, um, they still have academics to do.
Raul Lopez:Teachers still have a role to play. You know, teachers are still trying to be. You know, their, their motivators, their cheerleaders. You know, but it's that partnership between school and home that makes that child elevate. You know, they always say that it takes a village. You know, but we got to build a village yep, and we got to work together too.
Raul Lopez:So so one of just kind of go back a little bit I wanted to did mention was, you know, the importance of creating a relationship, you know, with um, the students and yes in your in your pre-interview stuff that you wrote up for me. You mentioned a teacher, mr Seavers, and an assistant principal, dr Gregory Hodge, and the positive impact that they had on you in that relationship with him. Were they kind of like a guiding light to you on how teachers and educators relationship with students should be?
Raul Lopez:I think so.
Raul Lopez:Yeah man Like Dr Hodge was my high school assistant principal and Mr Severs was my middle school English teacher, you know, and I remember him vividly because he was one of the first teachers that looked like me, you know, and I love the fact of you know, he had a particular knack of how to talk to people, but also he commanded a level of respect but also was very humble and appreciative, you know.
Raul Lopez:But what I loved about him was the fact that he, in that middle school, he had my brother and he had some of my sisters. So therefore, like he looked out because he saw the lineage, you know, but his way of teaching engaged me to the point that I just kept going, you know. But he never allowed for, you know, for any uninterrupted time. Like he said, these 45 minutes are dedicated to us to learn, to engage in the work and just to do what we need to do, but he always kept us accountable in every shape or form. Dr Hodge was a different animal of educator. So if you can envision the human version of Dr Mario, the human version of the Mario Brothers, right.
Raul Lopez:But he was such a great educator in the sense of, you know, he looked forward to building capacity in every single student. He was the one that walked around and knew every student by name, you know. But he was one that you. He walks in the room and he commanded respect. You know, he also taught my brother, he taught some of my sisters, but he was also my English teacher at a.
Raul Lopez:But he was also my English teacher at a program that I was at in Fordham University, you know, where. It was an enrichment program called the Fordham Upper Brown Program, and there he gave us a love for analyzing and being critical thinkers and I think that's what I appreciated a lot, because that gave me a lot of skills that to this day I still use. You know he always was one of those. All right, you got me to point eight, give me a little bit more. You know he always wanted you to look at certain things in multiple perspectives. But you know, I think that's what I grasped from him and that's what I appreciate so much. You know it got up to a point where we actually just we disconnected for a while, and prior to his passing I was teaching and one of the assistant principals walks in the door and he walks in with him and I'm like Dr Hodge, what are you doing here?
Raul Lopez:You know, and it was just great to the fact that he saw you know from the little child that I was to being an educator and he was able to sit in my classroom and actually see me do my magic. You know, so like it just came around full circle that's awesome, man.
Raul Lopez:It's because it's nice, when you can, to show someone who made a positive influence you and catch them later, like I made it, I'm here, thank you man, that's awesome, I'm sure yeah, it was a very important day for you. So well, absolutely, man, and but then also you know he.
Raul Lopez:He was one that educated me a lot in New York City public education pension. You know like when you become a teacher there's a lot to say about, you know, like saving up for retirement and saving up for your pensions, but no one really educates you on it, you know. So he was able to kind of guide myself and my wife in reference to how do you navigate these waters. So that way at the end of your retirement you are shining bright, you know.
Raul Lopez:So that way you walk around with having all those funds you know, but that's one of the things that he kind of gave an analogy on, because a lot of he gave an analogy to the way how he was brought up in comparison to me. So he is a Jewish man. You know that worked in the Bronx for majority of his life. But he also said that in the Jewish heritage what happens is that they, you know, when a child goes for the bat mitzvah or mitzvah, they tend to educate them on financials. In our communities they don't. You know a lot of our parents, if you remember. They live in check to check, you know.
Raul Lopez:So he was able to. He kind of gave me that knowledge. You know that inside scoop of like, make sure that whoever else you speak to give them this knowledge, because you want everyone to be as financially well so that way they can make their own decisions. But they need to have the information. You know, um, which is something that I really enjoy, because now in age um, there's a lot more talk about financial literacy and financial education and getting students to understand all those intricate points about how to manage money and how money works in america. You know, um, but yeah, but it's. That was one of the interesting parts. That kind of got me. Like you know, make sure you fix whatever you can here, so that way you can see the fruit to your labor later, yeah, yeah financial literacy is a big one, uh, in our community that we struggle with as a whole.
Raul Lopez:Um, you know, hopefully, as we start building ourselves up, we're preparing the next generation a little better than we did and slowly get ourselves out of that hole. Yeah, man, that's true. I mean, listen, we always have to figure out. What is it that we need?
Raul Lopez:versus. What is it that we want, and that's something that I speak to. When I was in the classroom, I spoke to a lot of my kids about that. It's the fact that you want sneakers, I mean, or that you need sneakers but you want jordans, you know but you have to compare that like you're spent.
Raul Lopez:You want two, three hundred dollars worth of jordans, but yet did you realize what the mom and dad need to do to get those jordans? Or what bill didn't they pay so you can get those jordans? You know, that's, that's a conversation I think they never know. And then once they hear that, they're like damn, mr you right you know like did you miss something in the fridge, so that way you can get those pair of jeans.
Raul Lopez:Yep, did your parents work for three days to get you those shoes?
Raul Lopez:exactly did your parents, yeah, and yeah, they, they, they bust their butt to do whatever it is that they can just to make you happy. But yet did you see the sacrifice or do you just see the reward?
Raul Lopez:Yep, and it doesn't get any easier when you have money, because then they get a little less worried about it because they don't see the struggle Exactly. Then you get the other end of the spectrum where they want everything but they don't even have any frame of reference to know if there was a struggle or anything you know so yeah I guess, a parenting ground.
Raul Lopez:It's a balancing act, always a balancing act, uh. So, moving on, um, you know, when you, you ended up going to college in stony brook and and, uh, that didn't necessarily turned out well, uh, initially for you.
Raul Lopez:No, no, it didn't um, actually, before going to stony Brook, I went to CW Post, right? So I went to CW Post for a year, but I guess let me just backtrack there. So, um my senior year of college. I mean senior high school. Um, still remember my guidance counselor, kind of giving my options, you know, um, I think during the time of high school I didn't know how to properly study, you know. So I knew about college because I visited my sister in college.
Raul Lopez:I visited my brother in college, but you know, I didn't really know what it took to get to college. All I know was you know, you take your classes, you take your SAT, hoping to get you. You know I still remember taking the SAT twice and getting the same score twice. I got a 720. You know 720, you think about it. 700, 800 is what you would get in the math or the writing.
Raul Lopez:That's my combined score for both parts, you know. So I don't know if it was the fact that I wasn't taught how to take the SAT, or maybe I didn't, maybe my mind wasn't wrapped around looking at it a particular way, but when I graduated I had two options. I can actually three. I can either go to concordia college. I can either go to sullivan county community college, which is in new york, about four hours up, or I can go to liucw post. You know, liucw post seemed like a better option, you know, something that was able to get out and explore, you know. But you know, things happened and I wound up transferring over to Stony Brook.
Raul Lopez:Now to answer your question, stony Brook was uh, I say in the beginning it was a gift and a curse, but then it became a gift. You know it was a gift because I was able to get into Stony Brook. I actually didn't get in the first time, but then I transferred. And still remember my first semester, you know, trying to figure out what I wanted to study. First semester I think I got like a 2.5. Like OK, no problem. Next semester they told us that our dorm is closing so we need to move into suites. We all know what happens in suites. You know you got one of two options. You either have a really, really simple sweet life or you have sweet mates that want to party and rock out mine was the latter, you know.
Raul Lopez:So. You know, it was literally my sweet had activity from wednesday to sunday, you know, um, and it wasn't even our fraternity brothers, just random people that they put me in a suite, you know. So that semester I messed up, you know, not strongly, but I did mess up. Yeah, and the following in that was my junior year. You know, at that point I think I was going into computer science. I was thinking about it because I was one of those I can't do math and I can't do science right. But I started testing the waters. First I started with the medical field. I knew I wasn't going anywhere with a D plus in chemistry. I just wasn't going anywhere. You know, luckily for calculus I was able to pass the first year because my TA at the time she helped me out greatly Come to find out that junior year I rack up a credit and then I make the bold decision to pledge of eternity right.
Raul Lopez:It's after the add drop period period, so I can't drop a class, you know. So that semester was by far, of course, one of the most difficult ones, because you're engaging in, you know, social, emotional things, mental work. You're still doing academics, I'm working, I'm still traveling back and forth to home and then I get into academic probation, right, um, and this is part where you know I'll get into it about the concept of building relationships. You know, I've always been one to build relationships wherever I go. Um, so that following semester I finish up, my average goes up, but it's not enough to get me past the academic probation.
Raul Lopez:So stony brook says unfortunately, you are no longer a student at stony brook. It's like, damn, okay, we all know as college students that the letters don't go home, you know. So there's nothing addressed to mom and dad. Um, so that summer I stay, uh, around stony brook and I'm working at like a as like a head counselor for like a summer camp. But in the midst of that, you know, I'm appealing to try to go back. But I also have which I didn't realize it was a couple of my friends that vouched for me with the, with the Dean of students, to try to convince me to come back to Stony Brook. You know they definitely explained to the dean of students that what you see on paper wasn't it's not me. You know it was. It was a result of certain things, but that's not my normal behavior. So one thing led to another.
Raul Lopez:I had an appointment with the dean of students and she gave me a second chance. You know, she's like the reason why I'm giving you a second chance, cause you had a whole bunch of people come and vouch for you to come in, so I'm gonna give you one more shot. And from that point I never looked back, you know. So that's where the gift started to come, you know. So, from that moment on, my grades started elevating graduated stony brook, uh, and then the following semester, after graduating stony brook, I went into the human resource program, wanted to get my master's in human resource management, but I wasn't officially in the program. I needed to do everything in a non-admission way, so I needed to take classes just to prove my worth, and then, once I got the average, then they admitted me into the program.
Raul Lopez:So I went from having a 2.3 in my undergrad to graduating with a 3.2. So I was like you know what I'll take it. But my problem which was the common practice of a lot of people that don't have a lot of guidance is that I never got an internship. A lot of people don't realize the beauty of an internship, where you get to be in the field and understand how it works and therefore get yourself one level ahead of the curve being in human resources. For many people that are listening, that know the human resource world, it is a field that has a very low turnover rate. You know so. For me, I had a double-edged sword. I was overqualified because I had a master's but underqualified because I didn't have experience. So my first job coming out of Stony Brook with my master's was I was a part of the management trainee program at Geico, you know so. Therefore, I'm learning the insurance game. I become licensed in auto home and they're trying to build me in capacity to become one of the managers inside of Geico. But in the midst of it and this is where building relationships works out great one of my cousins is an admissions counselor for two-year college and he's like listen, I know that you've been looking for hr work. Would you consider being an adjunct? That way you can make some extra money and still practice your craft? I gave it a shot. I was like, all right, cool.
Raul Lopez:One thing led to another. I started and I loved it. You know I was what 24, 25 being an adjunct professor. You know my first, you know like extra job. But that was the taste of my educational career being an adjunct professor, teaching human research classes and business 101 and entrepreneurship. You know um. Later on, the school closed its doors. But then in in 2009, 2010, I decided to make the transition and I was like you know what I'm going to go for it? I'm going to go for education and just the world, the building relationships. One thing led to another and I was able to get someone that gave me the opportunity to start teaching history at a charter school. So I worked at a charter school for three years. I got married to the love of my life in 2013. And then in 2013, this is where that hits you, you know 2013,. I get married, just got a brand new job working at the New York City Department of Education, being a founding teacher of a school, and I wound up in a hospital.
Raul Lopez:So I got what they call a bilateral pulmonary embolism, right? So for those of you that don't know, that's when you get blood clots in both side of your lungs, you know. So there, you know, I just finished getting married. We went to our honeymoon, you know. And when we come back, you know I. You know, I just finished getting married. We went to our honeymoon, you know. And when we come back, you know, I'm feeling a little bit off, you know.
Raul Lopez:And at that point, like I was working out, you know, um. So typically, when you know, at that time I was able to run three, four miles with no problem, I couldn't get through a quarter mile without huffing and puffing. You know, grabbing bags, it would take me about four minutes just to get up a flight of stairs only because I'm huffing and puffing. You know, grabbing bags, it will take me about four minutes just to get up a flight of stairs only because I'm huffing and puffing. But I didn't know what it was. I thought it was extreme asthma, but then that's when they picked it up. But my first week of working at a brand new school and being married and doing everything, I was in the hospital.
Raul Lopez:You know it must have been scary oh, dude, it was scary because I didn't really know what was happening, you you know until the doctor actually sat me down and was like listen, you could have died. You know, like, luckily, you know, you were in a proper place and you came right away, but it could have stopped in your head, you could have caught a stroke. You could have stopped in your heart, you could have had a heart attack.
Raul Lopez:You know, and what's funny enough is that I didn't know that I was the one that broke the knot. I mean, that broke the actual clot for it to travel. So the clot was actually in my leg and at that time I thought I just had a knot in my calf so I worked it out. But I was actually working out the clot.
Raul Lopez:And once it broke up, then that's when it started. Oh wow, that's crazy, yeah, man, but thank the Lord I'm good. You know, it's been about 10 years now and the only thing I'm on is a baby aspirin.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, good, that's good, that's good to hear, but I mean as someone who's gone to his own level of health stuff, it changes your momentum and it changes your path and your vision. What impacts did that have on how you treated your career moving forward?
Raul Lopez:I think it didn't. I mean, I think it definitely didn't change the trajectory, but it made me second guess and think certain things. Right, because now, like it made me think about longevity, you know, like I was there in the moment. But you know, like I was there in the moment, but you know I need to build a career, you know, like you know, being with my son and my wife, you know, can't just think about the moment. I gotta think about what is my life looking like in 10, 15, 20 years, you know?
Raul Lopez:um, so I think it made me dig deep into my craft and try to be the best teacher that I can you know, um, and from that moment it's been all about, like, getting to know my kids, getting to understand who are the students that are sitting in the classroom. Uh, what dynamics they come from. You know, um, it's a lot of stories that are shared. Man, a lot of people don't realize that teachers are a child's second parent from morning to afternoon, really, depending on the relationship that they have, but we definitely do become their parent. They come to us for snacks, they come to us for guidance, they come to us if they have an ailment.
Raul Lopez:A lot of these students, they only need one person to trust. That trusting factor can be the difference of elevating the kid or just letting them just kind of follow with it, you know, but I always believe, like every student needs that one person to to trust, to walk the fine line with, to find that guidance, to just give them whatever social, emotional support that they need in order to be that next generation of person. You know, um, and and that's part of like the mantra that I tell my teachers a lot you know like these students, like some of them, are just looking for someone. You know like they may not have that one at home, you know. So, by you building, building that level of understanding and trust in the kid. The student might come on, our attendance might come higher, you know, um, and it things might be a little bit better for that child because they know that they're coming into a safe zone.
Edwin Berroa:You know safe and protected zone yeah, no man, that makes sense, no it does it, does I mean it's it's.
Raul Lopez:You grow up and you tell you know you spend. As an adult you spend most of your time at work and so you're working and becoming almost like your family. But for kids you know they don't go to work, they go to school and they're in school right seven, eight hours a day and you know the teacher is as much as their life, as some of the parents are, and sometimes more. You know, especially you know if you have parents that work double jobs, two jobs and stuff like that, they might see they might be able to. The teacher might be able to pick up things that are going on with the kid's life before the parents will, just because you know what they do. So you know it's always imperative. I think it's always wonderful when you talk to a teacher. It's hard right now for teachers in general, but almost every teacher you talk to there is a drive that pushes them through all that stuff that they do.
Raul Lopez:It's what I call like. What is your why? You know like why do you wake up in the morning and fix your lesson plans and come to school? Why is it that you stand in front of your classroom and, you know, greet your kids? Why is it that you build a relationship with that kid you? Know like there's a reason why you walk into the door, you know like you signed up for this, but there must be a reason why you signed up for this.
Raul Lopez:You know you didn't just grab teaching because it was a easy job to have summers off and, by the way, just to demystify this whole thing about summers off. You know, yes, teachers do get summers off, but they earn it, you know like. You know like they work a numerous amount of hours and there's hours that people don't see. You know like teachers take their work and they take it home and they work nonstop. You know, to try to get those grades in, to try to get those updates, because they need to provide that feedback to the students. You know. So. Therefore, like when you calculate those hours, it equals out to that time frame over the summer.
Raul Lopez:You know, but also, at the same time, like I think people tend to realize that teachers, just like everyone else, need to regenerate their batteries. You know like they need that time to get back into the zone. You know, because it's it's good to go go time, but there's only so much go time you need before you need a break. So, like you know, that's why teachers tend to have those summers off. Of course, other institutions or jurisdictions of educational systems, they might have a different way of looking at summers. You know, like some teachers need to go back in August. New York City teachers come back in September, you know. But I do think teachers definitely earn it.
Raul Lopez:No, I mean it's crazy how much teachers have to put up with and how much stuff they deal with and how much mental and emotional stresses they deal with at work, and then they come home and they're still grading papers till 10 o'clock at night and then come in the next day doing their, you know and they got to come up with a plan. They're not planning while they're in school because they're busy doing school stuff all day.
Raul Lopez:You know, and then you know like I have teachers at my daughter's school that are great and they're staying after school with programs and teaching the kids extra stuff after school and helping them out with stuff. So, yeah, I mean, like I said, and yeah, and what's crazy enough is that teachers, you know, and just like any administrator, anyone that works in the education system people forget that we're human. Yeah, you know, and that is one of the the key pieces like, we are human and we also have emotion. Many times teachers are what I call the best actors in the world. Why? Because it's not that they're trained, but they need to build up that particular emotional wall to not say things personal and do their job the best that they can, but then also, when they get home, decompress and do whatever they need to do. My hat's off to anyone that's in the educational aspect in any shape or form, because it takes a lot.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, it is. It is so, speaking about you know, teaching, eventually you go into, I mean eventually you become assistant principal. Obviously you know what is that transition Like? How does it? How do you go from being a teacher and then being like, oh, I mean, I'm going to become? I'm not sure it didn't happen overnight, but you know what is that transition?
Raul Lopez:No, it definitely wasn't overnight, while I was teaching right. So, just like you mentioned, you know I have a decade over a decade in teaching right. So I started off in the charter school, then I went over to the New York City Public School During that time teaching, teaching or whatever. You know, I get involved with multiple overtime opportunities. You know, in New York City we call it a procession. So I get involved with a program called the YABC program, the Young Adult Borough Office, and the purpose of that program is technically kind of like a night school, so it allows a student that's over age and undercredited the opportunity to get credit accumulation faster or also disengage from day school and only stay at the night. So that way we can concentrate on that person's efforts, right?
Raul Lopez:So I started working in this program and I work with one of my administrative mentors. His name is Martin Smallhorn and he starts to show me this major shift of having students have a particular different way of thinking. He wants students to have a rich mindset and not a poor mindset, you know, and he's not talking about poor mindset when it comes to money, but poor in reference to the poor decisions that you might make. You know, but that rich mindset is, you know, elevating yourself, putting yourself next to people that can elevate your thinking and elevate your game, you know, but a lot of these students, you know he reworks the program, but I start working with him and working with him and I, you know he reworks the program, but I start working with him and working with him and I one summer, my wife and I actually worked for him and he allows me the opportunity to be kind of like a part of his administrative team, just helping with, like, managing the classrooms and stuff like that.
Raul Lopez:But they convinced me to go and take administrative classes. I didn't want to. Honestly, I didn't think about it. It wasn't something that was on my radar. So it was like you know what, why don't you take it?
Raul Lopez:I was like all right, fine, they finally convinced me I took the classes and I will tell you, it is a different perspective that I have now from when I started to when I finished the program, because now you see everything in both lenses. You see it in how it is and where it should be. You know being an administrator gives you, you know like anyone can be an administrator, but it's it's the lessons that are taught inside of it that make you really think about what's next for the students, you know. So I wound up taking the classes and I have these two certifications one that's called school building leadership, that allows me to be the assistant principal or principal, and then school district leadership, which allows me to work outside of the building. So if I wanted to work for the superintendent's office or something within the district, I can actually do that.
Raul Lopez:Um, so my last year of teaching i'm'm there minding my own business, and then that couple months I decided to transition to go to another school, not because the school was doing anything wrong, but you know, I've been here for so long I felt like I needed a change. So I get picked up by a different school and I start arranging my curriculum. I'm a social studies teacher by trade, so I'm preparing for US history. One thing leads to another, and one of the members or one of my colleagues from the district leadership classes calls me and is like hey, what's up? Do you remember me? I?
Raul Lopez:was like, yay, what's up? Hey, hi, you know. So she happens to be one of the principals of a school, but she was taking the classes with us because she wanted the other certification. So one thing leads to another, and she's like you know, are you still looking? And I was like, yeah, you know. So one thing leads to another. We met up at a coffee shop, you know. Know, we start talking about school and administrative work and stuff, and she had an opening, you know so one thing led to another.
Raul Lopez:I put my name in the hat and I got the job right, you know so thank you.
Raul Lopez:So it it just worked out, man, and I think that transition from being a teacher to an assistant principal, it is great, but it's scary Now. It's great because the fact of you're filling out that whole trajectory right, you start from the beginning and you keep going so you can see how it goes and you can see the impact that you have on these students right. So I'm going from having a classroom of 34 students to now helping to operate a school that has close to 400 kids. You know um of different modalities, different cultures, different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, but it's also scary because you don't want to mess up. You know, and also you want to make sure that the kids are protected, but you also want to make sure that you don't make the news. You know, and a sense of principles journey is, you are what I call the chaos coordinator, if that makes sense, right. There's a lot of chaos. That happens.
Raul Lopez:Right, assistant principals are putting out little fires everywhere. You know my job being I'm an assistant principal of supervision, so I work closely with the dean. I work closely with different departments to make sure that pedagogical practices are still happening. But it's you know, putting out the little fires. You know, because you don't want the big fire to emerge. You know, um, making sure the students are accountable, making sure teachers are keeping the kids accountable and that learning is still happening. Making sure that, you know, we look at discipline when it comes to our students that are getting in trouble, in a more restorative lens and not a consequential lens, you know um. But also trying to give all the supports that the students need.
Raul Lopez:You know, and it's scary because, like for me, I've been so many years as a teacher. Sometimes I still think as a teacher, you know, and I don't want to let that go. But there are times where, like you, don't have a choice. You have to think like a teacher, you know, but it's you know. The other scary part is where I needed to reflect and think about this. I'm in a marathon and not a race. You understand what I mean. Right.
Raul Lopez:Working in a marathon and not a race, Like we need to build this step-by-step. I can't throw every single new initiative all in one year, because then you know something's going to fall. But if you have small initiatives that you try to build up and you make it go and then you go to the next one, then eventually it's going to grow legs and it's going to grow into the fruition that you want.
Raul Lopez:Mel Gibson said it best in the movie the Patriot aim small, miss small, you know. So you know I was fortunate that my principal gave me the opportunity and therefore, you know, I've been able to do a lot of changes and the students see the changes. You know I got a lot of students that mentioned, like Mr, Like you know, since you got in here, like the school has gotten better because a lot of your ideas, like we're doing it, you know, like it feels like I can come here and there's activities going on, you know, and it's not to say that they weren't doing things, but I guess I had a different perspective because I came from
Raul Lopez:the outside world. That's awesome, man. I mean, it's um, you know, one of the things I was going to ask is you know, because you guys, as an administrator, you're, you're, you're doing a tightrope app between the teachers, the students and the uh, yes, the school board, you know that stuff like that. It's a difficult thing to think. So what other kind of challenges that you deal with? You know, as an assistant person, when it comes to that balancing act that you have to?
Raul Lopez:do. I think I think the the difficult component comes with. Of course. I think it's three parts, you know part one is making sure that the that yourself and the teachers are aligned. You know, a lot of times you might throw some initiatives, but I'm one that believes that I wouldn't give you an initiative to do if I wouldn't do it myself. You know like one thing is to throw something at you, but if you see me doing it, then you know it's possible, you know, or providing the resources that are necessary.
Raul Lopez:One of the challenges, I think, for me the first year with teachers was letting them understand that I'm on their side. You know I don't believe in the I got your approach. You know I wanna build you to the best version of yourself, but I need to do it in time, you know. But I also need you to take a self look at where you're doing good and what are your deficiencies. You know I can look at it when it comes to observations and feedback, but you also need to take a second to figure out not only where do you need working, but what's the relationship you have with your kids. You know, and I think that's where the second part is. It's that the difficult, tight rope between teacher and student interaction right so as an administrator.
Raul Lopez:You know you tend to be sometimes a mediator, but of course you have to put the administrative lens on. But sometimes there are some friction between teacher and student because you know it just happens. But, um, I do think teachers how do I put it? Sometimes teachers need to take a back seat to see what the student needs. You know, um, part of the friction that I see, which causes a little bit of like back and forth play, is some teachers setting up systems and routines in order to ensure success in their classroom. Right, so, like you know a boss telling you like these are the rules, right, a boss needs to tell you the rules from the beginning, so that way you know not to cross it. But you can't give the rules in december when you started in september, you know, um. So that's where I think some of the tightrope problems tend to happen. But I also feel the tightrope problem when it comes to the outside perspective is making sure parents are on your side.
Raul Lopez:You know, one of the problems we're having today and as a matter of fact, new York Times had a big article on it was talking about chronic absenteeism.
Raul Lopez:You know, and just, we have a lot of students that are not going to school. You know, um, and it's something that has become noticeable across the states, you know, um, and for whatever reasons, you know, uh, everyone says that is due to the rippling effects from covid, which is true, but then I think not only is it the ripp effects, but it's also we haven't been able to talk about it and get to a place where we're comfortable. A lot of students that I see I have what they call chronic absenteeism and students that are chronically late. Our schools start at 8.30. I got kids coming in at 9, 10 o'clock. You already missed like a quarter of the day, you know, and some of them, like there's that accountability measure is missing. You know, I think part of it is. You know, there's a lot of things happening at home. Some of the students are taking their younger siblings to work to school while mom and their guardians are going to work.
Edwin Berroa:Some of them parents think that they've gotten up to go to school, but naturally, they're still sleeping, you know, um, and some of them are doing things outside the school that we can't control.
Raul Lopez:There's stuff in our sphere of influence that we can't control and things we can't, you know. But I also I also feel that some of the tightrope problems that comes in is understanding that traditional aspects of looking at how we see absenteeism in the way and the role of how parent engagement is has changed. So traditional thinking of how we want parents to engage with us has changed. A simple text for them is fine. You know phone calls they don't call or pick up. You know emails they rather block. You know depending on the parent.
Raul Lopez:But you know, like, like, we have the different levels of parents. We have the over-engaged, we have the don't bother me as much, or the ones that you know I'm going to pop in whenever I need to, you know'm gonna pop in whenever I need to, you know. But it's, I think that's the one thing that can round up everything, if we get those parents engaged with us so they understand that, you know, not only is a national problem, but your child can become better successful if they come to school. You know, um, so those are those three challenges, you know teachers, would you know, trying to find their balance with systems and structures, the kids trying to figure out what they are and the parents just trying to build that relationship.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, dude, it's, I mean, my parenting different from when my parents were, because obviously I just I have the luxury of time that my parents never had, so, yeah, I can be more involved, I can talk about. One of the greatest things now, I think, is just the, the way technology is being used where you can have these you know apps at the school with the teacher.
Raul Lopez:oh, kids are doing this in school now. Or, like the other day, my daughter uh, I don't take offense to the troubles of saying kids that show up late. You know I'm always late dropping, dropping my daughter off at school, but it's like 10, 5, 10 minutes late Carline is done. I'm dropping her off in the front of the school and say hurry up, run, run, run. Our mornings are always a mess, but she's always there.
Raul Lopez:But that's different. It's different because 5, 10 minutes is different than 4 hours.
Raul Lopez:Yeah. So I started like, oh shit, I'm on that list he's talking about. And it was like, oh yeah, they're coming in. I tell you, okay, we're not that bad, but but it's just funny. So but the other day my digital daughter off my her teacher sent me a message. He's like eva seemed a little off today, like she forgot her glasses again, she brought her crocs instead of her sneakers and they had gym. You know PE today. I don't want to offend PE teachers, but yeah, you don't say gym is PE.
Raul Lopez:I have a buddy who's a PE teacher, so he'll yell at me when he hears this. But but you know, so she, she forgot her schools and so whatever, and she thing. And she seems a little bit off today. So I was like all right, thank you for letting me know. And when she came home, I so I was like all right, thank you for letting me know. And when she came home I talked to her Like you know, was everything okay? Was there something going on? Today? She's like I don't know, I just I think I'm tired.
Raul Lopez:I'm like, okay, well, let's make sure we're done earlier tonight and you go to bed right on time so we don't rush in the school in Pawtucket that I grew up in, which is a much lower socioeconomic school and teacher wasn't as technologically advanced as some other teachers were, but she's learning how to read and we're in, I think. May you know they go to end school here in june and texas are done by may, but it was like late april, early may and I'm like she's still struggling reading. We have to read the sentence like three times before she remembers what was on that sentence and it takes us three times and she's like, yeah, I know she's been struggling with that all year and I'm like why didn't you tell me anything like november? Why didn't you?
Raul Lopez:tell me. Granted, it was. It was a year of covid, there was so much stuff going on, but I was just like if I would have known in november I could have worked extra harder for her, exactly, and so you know, those little things really do make a difference sometimes for parents.
Raul Lopez:So oh yeah, I mean, like you know, getting parents the updates that they need is beneficial, you know um, but I also feel that you know not only calling parents for the bad stuff, but definitely call for the good stuff.
Edwin Berroa:you stuff it's great to receive a phone call. That's like your child's not in trouble, Just want to see how good they were doing.
Raul Lopez:That will elevate the game, because it's a different approach that the parent will give to the child and the child will come in the next day feeling a different type of way.
Raul Lopez:It's an amazing feeling when you go to school I mean I really love my daughter's school. I mean I really love my daughter's school, I mean it's a great school. And you come to the like, the parent-teacher conference. They give you the little report card and you see the little section where they write a note and I remember growing up it was always like you know talks too much in school. It doesn't pay attention.
Raul Lopez:It was just like but it was like and so now it's like he's got this like super paragraph of like she does this and then she's great at this and she's always helpful and she does that and I'm like I really appreciate the fact that you went out of your way to write a legitimate paragraph to tell me how she's doing, even though he does tell me stuff throughout the year and he's his manager. It just makes a big difference where you know the teacher cares enough to know your daughter, your kid, and what they're doing, what their struggles are, and really pays attention to what they were doing. And so it makes you feel good as a parent when you go there and you're like, fuck, yeah, man.
Raul Lopez:Listen, that little piece of details or stuff that also you may not be able to see, you know only because, like you know, you see your kids at a certain hour, like you're not there for most of the academic development you know. So, like, it's great to get that feedback because now you know how to support it.
Raul Lopez:You know, yeah, um, but it also helps with that social emotional learning because, like the student feels seen, you know what I'm saying and when they feel seen and heard, they're able to learn a little better you know, and it's helpful too, because with the technology stuff is like, I mean, when my daughter, you know my teacher, the teacher sent me a message but she's like in first grade, uh, please don't uh have eva, come with any more shirts that they have, like the little glitter shirts that when you fold them one way you should like she's just been all day playing with it.
Raul Lopez:It was like all right, eva, you can't wear that shirt to school, no more. But it's a little thing where it's like, okay, this is a obviously a distraction, you know. As opposed to back in the day and so well, good man, I'm glad to hear that. So for teachers who are looking to want to make that jump into something more administrative, you know what I mean. What's something they should be doing? Should they be taking those classes, should they be taking these extra overtime organizations, or whatever? I mean stuff.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, I think for someone that's looking to elevate their game and get to the next level, I definitely think they shouldn't do it straight off the cuff, like, if you're a first, second, third-year teacher, be patient. You know like your time will come. You know because there's a certain process of learning that you do as a teacher right. So year one you're building your lesson plans. You're getting to know who you are in the classroom. Year two you're tweaking your lesson plans. Now you understand what you want, right and wrong. By year three, four, five, like you kind of have that understanding, you already have a kind of like a rinse, wash, repeat cycle you know, but then you tweak it.
Raul Lopez:But then you tweak it when, I think, getting involved with certain aspects of instruction in your school, we'll start that conversation like getting getting involved with, like, the instructional leadership team which is dealing with anything instruction, how to give new, new initiatives inside the school, going to professional developments, going to, you know, being a part of something called the school leadership team, where that's where you have a common conversation with the principal, parents and a lot of invested parties of the school. If someone is really looking to make that jump. I think that before they do it.
Raul Lopez:They need to realize why they do it. You know, are you doing it for a paycheck? Are you doing it for because you actually want to make that difference? Because, again, you can get the license, but I think it's what you do with it that counts. We signed up for education, but not everyone is meant to be an educator.
Raul Lopez:You know, like for me, like I'm, I'm blessed the fact that my change of career actually worked out great and I became the educator that I am today. But some people education is just not in their wheelhouse. You know they went to it because it was a job. But I put it this way you can hit your job but love your career. You need to be built for the long run of this career. But the administrative work I would say, if that is what you want, talk to your principal about it. Make sure that you have someone that supports you in your growth. Make sure that you have a mentor that's going to guide you towards looking at the ins and outs of administrative work. If you do decide to take the classes, take it in a very reflective lens, but also network with those colleagues, because those will be the upcoming assistant principals and principals around you. So therefore, you can build ideas with them.
Raul Lopez:I think a lot of times, you know, just like in regular college, we go to college but a lot of the guys that we graduated with we don't really keep in contact with. You know, when you get to the master's program, you tend to keep in contact with some of them, depending on how intricate the program is. You, you tend to keep more contact, but administrative work like you, definitely need to keep in contact with them. Uh, because you never know where your path may take you.
Raul Lopez:Um, I always feel like you should never burn a bridge you know, burning a bridge in education is it tends to be a really bad one only because, like, not only are you hurting the relationship with yourself and another administrator, but you're also like you could potentially hurt the relationship of students if they see that contention. You know, um, but yeah, but talking to the principal taking those classes, getting that reflective mindset, and you know, just like podcasts, like you know, just start listening to different podcasts and different audio books and books about education. You have to look at where is it that you want to go. You know what is your focal point?
Raul Lopez:Like for me, when I was an educator right, I was doing social studies, but I was also a ESL teacher. So my framework and my frame of thinking is more towards immigrant children, people of dual languages. But there's some teachers that might be just a literacy teacher that wants to go into it. So, depending on what your passion is, that will kind of guide you on where you wanna go in it. But once you decide, just go all in. If you go all in and you place yourself around people that are going to guide you and mentor you, then I think you're going to have some success nice, awesome.
Raul Lopez:And then I guess one other question I have is um, do you put the pal in principal?
Raul Lopez:um, I try to be. I I definitely, I definitely try to be a pal, you know, um, I'm definitely one that you know, um, when I think of power, I don't think of it as just a buddy buddy, but also think of, like, someone that people can look up to, you know, um. So one thing I've made it a point is, you know, whenever I go to work I get dressed up to the nines. You know, uh, bow tie. You know, uh, shoes. You know, maybe I'll do the suit with the sneakers, but I definitely want them to see.
Raul Lopez:You know, someone that they can look up to and someone that they can see that you know, like, I want to try to emulate this style of professionalism or this style of person. You know, everyone has their own professional look, but I guess that happens to be me, you know. But I think my pal and principal happens to be, like you know, putting others first, making sure that whoever I can assist I can, but making sure that students felt seen, felt heard, and the fact that the school community can build because of the actions that us, as administrative staff, are actually doing.
Raul Lopez:Nice man, that's awesome. That was going to be my hard question for you, philip but also man, and so usually, when we get to this point in the podcast, I like to ask if you could go back and talk to a younger version of you and give yourself, you know, a piece of advice. You know what's something you would tell yourself.
Raul Lopez:Oh man, all right. So I think it depends on which version of myself you know, because there's been multiple versions, you know, is it the middle school version of getting bullied and trying to figure it out? The high school one? The college one? I would go back to my college one, actually high school. And the reason why I choose high school because, just like I said, high school is what kind of builds you up, but college actually defines you. Find you, I would could.
Raul Lopez:Some of the words of wisdom I would tell my younger self is to you know, on top of whatever leadership programs I was in, you know, um, like in high school, I was a part of the, a speed up program, which is a leadership development program. I was a boy scout, you know, like, um, I was part of a whole bunch of things. But I would say get the resources you need to elevate yourself academically. You know what I'm saying. Like I can, with some of the harder things, like science and math. I can contextualize it now, but my brain wasn't like, it wasn't at that point, at that time where you know, it was able to look at those concepts and try to figure it out. So I would say get the resources that I need so that way I can elevate my thinking when it comes to math science ways on how to write better ways on how to speak better, and also I would tell them to be patient.
Raul Lopez:A lot of times things come but you can't rush it. You know as much as we want to rush things, sometimes rushing something doesn't work in the best of our interest, you know. So, take your time, never settle. But you know, have a go, get a magnitude, but do it in a patient mindset you know, definitely put your ducks in a row before you make a move.
Raul Lopez:You know, um and I say that you know because I've been I can say I've been blessed with having you know, not only working hard and do whatever I need to do, but having people along my journey that have been instrumental in just like know, giving me a nudge or giving me an edge, or giving me an opportunity to shine. You know like, granted, I may be a Leo when it comes to Zodiac sign, you know so, always a center of attention, but you know, I'm always, I'm always a pretty humble guy you know so like I'm appreciative of all the opportunities given to me, you know, and never taking it for granted.
Raul Lopez:But I also think my younger self needs to understand that you know there are going to be times that you're going to struggle. There are times that you're going to grow.
Raul Lopez:But, you know, try to stay the course yeah, that's uh, I mean it's hard when you're younger, not not realizing what's going forward, and you go back now and it's like you know, at the end of the year you're just like man, cut yourself some slack, yeah, it'll come. And we don't realize how important you know sometimes, like you said, having that one person give you some nudge and you like listen to that person, like don't be sorry, listen to that person, like you know, go ahead and you I'm sure you deal that with a lot of your kids too, or you're like you know yeah, um, yeah.
Raul Lopez:So a lot of my kids are, you know, uh, act now, speak later. Yeah, you know, um, but yeah, like that, that particular segment of you know like listening to what someone has to say. It. I think it's they tend to listen as a last resort, not not because it went the right way that they wanted to you know, but they also realized at the end that there's always another way, there's always a third way to do something.
Raul Lopez:You know um and uh, it's interesting, like it's a, it's a common lesson that I've come to learn and also you know because recent, last seven, eight years I've been, I've been doing on brazilian jiu-jitsu, so one of the things that they mentioned is that you know um, you either win or you learn. Yeah, you never lose, you just happen to learn a valuable lesson, so that way you could try to win in the next one. So you know, I think it's going through those motions and getting that, I guess, pep talk. So that way you can elevate your game.
Raul Lopez:Um, definitely works great when, when you sit there and have that reflective lens yeah, learning from failures is a is in what's it called a trait from wisdom and time, sometimes that there are kids but is it failure though no, no, but I'm saying but. But learning from fail, like every time you fail, is an opportunity to learn and get better right or move, something like that, you know. I mean, I always go back to batman like why do we fall? So we learned to lift ourselves back up.
Raul Lopez:And it's a big part of what I do with my daughter and how I raise her, where, you know, I don't talk about how easy things are, I don't. You know, I don't go about and say so like the things I try to teach her is. You know, everything's a learn to learn. You're slowly learning. You know, just because you don't get it now doesn't mean you won't get it tomorrow, and everything's one at a time. And if you mess up, you know, I mean it's not about the fact that you messed up and you should be just about that you messed up, it's about that. What can I learn? I don't mess up again, you know, I mean so that she doesn't grow up with the fear of failure that causes us to stop ourselves from moving forward.
Raul Lopez:You know what I mean, because that's what I dealt with in my whole life.
Raul Lopez:Every time I was afraid of failure, I hit a roadblock and I just wanted to stop. You know what I?
Raul Lopez:mean, yeah, man, and that's, and that's, I think, what today's society call it productive struggle. You know what I'm saying. It's like you're, you're, you're trying to get to a goal, but you are going to reach those obstacles, you know, um, but it's you know, because, like, when you understand how to properly do something, then you can do it on repeat, you know, and you know that you got it, so that continuous motion becomes muscle memory yeah, yeah, that's, that's what I love, what I try to teach my daughter as well.
Raul Lopez:So I'm like, oh yeah, I think as millennial parents, and we're a little more inept in trying to understand the impact as opposed to just being a parent, like our parents were just parents. You do this, girls. You know, and so, thankfully for some of us, it helped out our path and I think we're a little more retrospective in looking okay, what else can I do to impact it? That are slightly different, but always I'm doing it, just doing it the way I know.
Raul Lopez:so, yeah, yeah, but but we also have that perspective that you know, like we do have our parents, but now we became the elders and it's like this the, the youth, has the energy, but we have the wisdom. I was like common mention that that you know, we definitely have the wisdom to keep them on the right, but we have the wisdom. Common mentioned that we definitely have the wisdom to keep them on the right path, but they have the energy to keep it going so it's like how do you combine those two so that way they can get a proper trajectory of wherever they want to go For?
Raul Lopez:sure. And then I guess, my last question for you is how do you say success in Spanglish?
Raul Lopez:success. In spanglish I'm gonna say you know, like it's it's, you're here for the journey. You know I'm saying your journey is different than everyone else's. Your chapter, your journey, is different than everyone else's. Your chapter of development is different from everyone else's. So please make sure that you know you stay the course. You know, it is a marathon and not a race. That's why I say cojalo con te queres Awesome.
Raul Lopez:Definitely yeah. It's a hard thing to it's hard to see.
Edwin Berroa:You know what's that? It's hard to see the trees for the forest, or whatever.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, it's like, you know, sometimes, the forest for the trees. You know what I mean. It's like, yeah, whatever you're, you're something you're so caught up in. I mean, we've, I've, I've, I've been there, we've all been there, where we're like, oh, I'm not there yet, I'm still getting there. So but thank you. You know, edwin, I really appreciate you taking the time to get on the show and you know it's been it's been a great conversation. I really enjoy.
Raul Lopez:I loved it, man. It's great man. It was great to connect with you one more time. It was like it's connected and I look forward to kind of seeing all the other. You know how to say success in Spanglish stories.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, exactly, brother. I appreciate it, man, and you have a good one, dude. Damn you, my brother All right and obviously for everyone else. Thank you once again for joining and listening in and I hope you'll continue to join me next time as we continue to learn how to say success in Spanglish you.
