He is a teacher, coach, husband, father, and former Miami High student. Dr. Miguel A. Flores is the wrestling coach and weight training and On the Job Training (OJT) teacher here at Miami High.

Early Life

Dr. Flores was born on July 6^th, 1976, into low income housing in Overtown, Miami, Florida, to his Puerto Rican father and Honduran mother.

His father wasn’t in the picture so his mother had to raise him, his five brothers, and sister on her own. She would take on 3 or 4 jobs: cleaning homes, cleaning offices, selling jewelry, and clothing—anything to provide for her children.

“We were basically the only Hispanic family on the block back then,” he said. “We moved a lot because we didn’t have a lot of money, but as my mom did a little progressing, she wanted us to live in a better neighborhood.” He says they wouldn’t go out much because the neighborhood kids would always pick on him and his siblings.

One moment from his childhood that stands out for Dr. Flores is when his preschool took him and his class to watch the movie Miracle on 34^th Street. They sat the class down and gave them popcorn and candy. “It was something I had never experienced. I had never been to a movie or had popcorn. I didn’t even have a TV at home,” he said. “The movie was in black and white, and to me it was amazing.”

As a child Dr. Flores went to four different elementary schools. He started at a private school, Corpus Christi Elementary, where they offered his mother to enroll him and his sister.

At the time his older brothers were enrolled at Allapattah and Robert E. Lee Middle school where they realized it wasn’t very safe for them. They then were transferred to Miami Shores Elementary and his family started moving into Little Havana.

In the Little Havana area he, his mother, and his siblings stayed in a one-bedroom apartment, and it was quite difficult for them, but they pushed through. Dr. Flores would go to Jose Marti Park every day and play football and basketball.

Once in the Little Havana area, Dr. Flores started at Shenandoah Elementary School, then Riverside Elementary and finally Coral Way. He said, “As my mother tried to progress and do better, she always tried to move us to better schools.”

He then moved on to junior high at Shenandoah Middle School where he completed his 7^th and 8^th grade years and then moved on to Miami Senior High School for the next four years. He recalls himself being an average student, but he was a wrestler all his four years and says that he loved everything about high school, “especially the culture, including the teachers, students and the relationships we all had with each other. We had comradery.”

Life After High School

   After Dr. Flores graduated from Miami High in 1994, he and his family faced a difficult time when his mother became Ill and he and his siblings had to find jobs in order to maintain their household and take care of their mother.

Because his older brother was a corrections officer, he chose to apply to be one as well. Due to the fact that his birthday is in July, it was difficult for him to find a job because he was not a legal adult yet.

On the day of his birthday, he was hired as a corrections officer. “Corrections was a hurry up and grow up job,” he said. “There were a lot of life-threatening situations. I did it out of necessity. I needed to do my job right in order to continue to provide.”

He does not recommend the job to everyone. He said, “Working in a prison you have no weapons. You have nothing but a pencil and a paper pad to defend yourself. The crimes of inmates range from DUI to murder on multiple counts.” He remains grateful for the experience and friendships he made when working as an officer.

Coaching

Dr. Flores says that he never really left Miami High. As a former wrestler here, he saw his coach, Coach Dodd, as a father figure as did many other students and wrestlers on the team. “Coach Dodd was very special to us because he taught us to believe in ourselves and not accept the mediocrity that was instilled or plaguing our generation,” he said.

Coach Dodd continued to be a mentor for Dr. Flores even after he graduated. “He was my guiding light,” he said. ”He gave me advice on what to pursue, how to pursue that, and helped me make decisions a little better.”  Coach Dodd offered him a position as his assistant coach for the wrestling team and on his days off from being a corrections officer, Flores would come to Miami High and coach the team. He continues to coach our Miami High wrestling team today and has now been coaching for 10 years.

His desire to coach comes from his love of competition. “I want to see the competitive atmosphere, the challenge,” he said. Besides coaching wrestling, Dr. Flores has coached JV football and boys cross country.

Teaching

   Although Dr. Flores was very busy with his work as an officer and assistant coach, he still found time to pursue his career in education. He started at Miami Dade College earning his Associates Degree, then moving on to FIU for his Bachelor’s Degree. He earned his first Master’s Degree in Special Education at Barry University, his second Masters in Education Leadership at Nova Southeastern University, and his doctorate degree in Leadership Management after 4 years at St. Thomas University.

“It was a personal goal of mine and I did it for my mother,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that her sacrifice to come to the United States wasn’t in vain.”

Once Dr. Flores got offered a job at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary School, he left his job as a corrections officer and started teaching. Elementary school wasn’t a good fit for him. He stated, “I ran back home. When you’re a guy, people look at you differently with little kids. I wanted to come back to the older kids.”

He was then offered a job here at Miami High in the SPED department and that was his ticket back to Sting town. Around his fourth or fifth year of teaching, Dr. Flores moved on to being an administrator, first as assistant principal at Booker T. Washington, Carol City, and Miami Beach Senior High.

It was in his moments as an administrator when Dr. Flores realized that teaching was his true happiness and dream job. After 7 years, he then returned to teaching at Miami High.

Back at Sting Town

   Dr. Flores is now the weight training and On the Job Training teacher here at Miami High. Dr. Flores continues to build close relationships with his students and wants to see them all succeed.

Dr. Flores recalls senior graduation day as both one of the happiest and saddest moments in the school year. He stated, “You develop relationships with kids, and you watch them grow up. High school is where you see kids mature, you see them focused, and you know they are headed in the right direction. But you give a lot to those kids and then watch them leave, and that’s the sad part, but the good thing is you know where they are going.”

He is currently married to a fellow Miami High alumna and has two children, Mia and Miguel. He says that they will definitely be Stings one-day, stating, “They are coming to Miami High for sure.”

He has since given 9 years (and counting) to his teaching career and hopes to one day be a college professor once he retires from Miami High.