About Me

My wife and I on our wedding.

I was born and raised in Ventura.  I went to Saticoy Elementary School and Mound Elementary School, followed by Balboa Middle School, Buena and Foothill High Schools.  My very first Spanish class I took was in the same room I teach in now at Buena.  During my sophomore year of high school I started working at Snapper Jack’s Taco Shack down the street from Buena, where I was first able to put my Spanish into practice.  I took the simple phrases that I had learned in Spanish class and implemented them there in the kitchen, trying to communicate changes to orders or score some free food.  I quickly realized that to me, Spanish was more than just a subject or class at school, but was actually a way I could connect to people with whom I would have never been able to communicate otherwise.

This passion for Spanish led me to work for two summers picking strawberries in Ventura, Oxnard and Santa Paula, where I was able to sharpen my Spanish skills and learn a lot about hard work.  After high school, I attended Point Loma Nazarene University, in San Diego, where I studied Spanish and studied abroad in Cuernavaca, Mexico.  My experience teaching Spanish has furthered my love for the language.  I am incredibly grateful that I get to spend so much time sharing what I love with my students.