Miami High’s new math coach Mr. Marrero has his own story to tell about Miami High. Many don’t know this, but Miami Senior High was the first school Mr. Marrero attended after coming from Cuba. He started his education in the United States in sophomore year and had no idea of how his life would develop from that moment on, or where he would end up going.

Did you know that Mr. Marrero …

– Attended Miami High since his sophomore year

– Is Miami High’s current math coach 

– Attended Williams College in Massachusetts  

– Met his best friend Ms. Wong when they were both Miami High students 

– Was born in Cuba

High School Experience

Mr. Marrero expressed that one of the best parts of his experience in high school was how “The school really allowed me to create a personal connection with my teachers. I had a very good relationship with Ms. Puentes, who was my English teacher back then and is now CAP advisor.” He also maintained very good relationships with a lot of teachers in the math department, who ironically, are now his colleagues.

“It’s strange now,” he said, “when you hear the people who used to be your teachers, talk about adult topics and problems during common planning or lunch. It’s interesting, but in the end, you never stop learning from these people, because they have been at this job longer than I have.”

He added that they have a lot of experience about things other than math, such as how the school system works, how to handle classes, student behavior, student-teacher relationships, and other aspects that make them such great teachers.

One of his favorite experiences in high school was meeting his lifelong best friend, Ms. Wong, who coincidentally went to the same university, Williams College, as Mr. Marrero, and also teaches at Miami High.

“I met her the second day that I was at Miami High and had just come from Cuba. She pointed out how to find my way through the school, which was hell back then, so finding someone to help you like that was important, and helped create our lifelong connection,” he said.

All his high school memories, however, weren’t as enjoyable. His worst experience was taking the Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry exam. Because he took this class his senior year, it was somewhat dreadful to have to take such a hard test in his last year.

He said, “I was done [with high school], and having to take a test that I had not studied for, even though Dr. Hueck had prepared me, it was very hard. It was also hard getting a two on it. It was brutal.”

College Life 

After graduating from Miami Senior High, Mr. Marrero attended Williams College. What attracted his attention the most was that the school was in a small place, far from most places, and it was a quiet institution where there weren’t a lot of students, so teachers had the time and capacity to commit to those who were there.

“Williams enabled me to reach out to faculty. You could even have lunch with your professors. Some of the class ratios were 2:1; thus, sometimes you had two students per teacher. The access to this super qualified faculty has no parallel to me,” he said.

At Williams, Mr. Marrero majored in political economy because it gave him the opportunity to not only understand how economics work, but their relations in a workplace, the socio-influential aspect of it in society, and other areas in which both politics and economics play a role in the world.

“Eventually, I focused more on the taxation platform of the US and proposed changes, such as moving the US tax to a territorial tax system, which means that companies would pay income tax in the countries where that income is generated. Some of these changes were actually adopted during the Trump administration,” he said.

For two summers during college, he worked as a financial consultant in an internship at Hernandez and Company, an accounting firm.

Geometry Teacher 

In all his years teaching at Miami High, Mr. Marrero has taught two different subjects: geometry and intensive math. During the 2021-2022 school year, Mr. Marrero started his sixth year of teaching as the new Miami High math coach. One of the aspects that he doesn’t like about this position is the lack of structure and predictability that come with the job.

“One day I’m coming in, and I don’t even know what I’ll be doing that day. Something might be going on in the department that I need to step in or take care of,” he said.

Nevertheless, regardless of the structureless aspect of this position, Mr. Marrero really enjoys being able to come into classrooms and observe class dynamics and interactions between teachers and students. “I get to peek behind the scenes and look at the data of the department, and that’s what I was trained to do as a political economist: I look at the data and draw meaning from it.”

Mr. Marrero also teaches math in an after-school program to middle school students at St. John Bosco. “Sometimes it’s necessary [to have a second job] if you want to not only live day by day, but also save up for the future. With the salaries that teachers get and the current inflation and overall economic situation, I think, gradually, that the only way to pay bills and save some money is by getting a second job.”

Although he has described his job at Miami High as “the most stressful one due to how many responsibilities fall unto me”, he also said that he enjoys his Stingaree job the most.