Eccentric, dedicated, and always with stories to tell, Mr. Waldo Rodriguez has dedicated 30 years of knowledge and effort to teaching U.S. Government and Economics at Miami High.

Student

Waldo graduated from Miami High in 1973 and was part of the football team. He was a B student and didn’t participate in any clubs, but his best memories from high school involve his friends and teachers.

He had a great psychology teacher; he loved to go her class where he was an active student. He also had an outstanding history teacher, Ms. Clark, who got him excited about politics and social science, and inspired him to become a teacher at Miami High.

After graduating from Miami High, Waldo went to Florida International University for 5 years majoring in psychology, political science, and education. He graduated from FIU in 1978 and transferred to NOVA Southeastern University.

One of his first jobs after college was working for Miami Dade County for three years in an employment program finding jobs for teenagers. From 1982 to 1986, Waldo worked in real estate where he had to sell properties such as houses and land.

Teacher at MHS

Mr. Rodriguez, who started teaching at Miami Senior High in 1988, expects participation, cooperation, and effort from his students.

“Those who pay attention and follow my lead are the ones who pass,” he said. For him, the best part of teaching is the interaction he has with the students. He loves the fact that students are open-minded to ideas.

On the other hand, the worst part of teaching is that school administrators don’t always remember that they were once teachers too, so teaching is not always about the test scores. He thinks that the way school administrators are evaluating kids is very weak since some students might be good at numbers but are bad test-takers or may have a language barrier.

Waldo believes that education is about opening the minds of the students and making them want to continue education. “Everything that is black and white bores the kids,” he said.

Girls Softball

He started coaching girls’ softball his second year of being at Miami High, so he has been coaching for 28 years. He also coached at St. Thomas University for 4 years. The worst part of coaching softball is that the school doesn’t have a park around here where the girls can practice. “It is a sport that is ignored,” he said.

However, what he likes is being able to play against other schools because they don’t know if they are going to win, but they are always giving their best. “Competing is impressive because if we go out on the field and play a fair game, we can win,” he said.

Jobs Other than Business

Besides teaching, Waldo owns a music record and comics store. He started the business in 1999. He collects comics, music, and other things, and then sells them. He balances both jobs by treating his business as a hobby and his teaching as his preference.

He loves his business because it distracts him from teaching, yet he would never give up teaching because he loves the idea of relating with young minds.

Even though he was making a lot of money in business, he has never quit teaching at Miami High because this is the school where he went and graduated; he has a bond here. “I don’t want to retire,” he said. “I would have to someday, but the only way I would give up teaching is when I would not feel physically well.”  He added, “I am feeling better now than I did 20 years ago.”

Life Outside of School

During his free time, vacations and weekends, he loves to travel to England and Iceland. On the weekdays, he goes to restaurants to try new food, including Central American food and Cuban food; his favorite restaurants are “Antigua Guatemala” and “Versailles”. He has three kids. His youngest daughter, who just graduated from Florida International University, works for the Discovery channel. His middle son is a social studies teacher just like his father. His oldest son is a lawyer.