Mr. Padilla’s Life

Mr. Padilla and Ms.Benavides and their students at the FBLA competition.

By Dania Olazabal, Staff Writer
May 19, 2023

Mr. Padilla is a teacher at Miami High that is friendly, polite, respectful, and understanding. His students, depending on the grade, mostly understand that his classroom is open to discussion and that he will be available for them individually if they need to talk. He understands that students themselves have other things to do or want to do outside of school so most of his work is classwork unless they decide to complete it at home because of some complications.

His life as a teacher

A day in his life as a teacher involves administrative work, emails, grading, instructing, collaborating with other teachers, and talking to all students. At times, he will need to take disciplinary measures like talking to administrators and parents or writing referrals.

Mr. Padilla said, “The worst part of being a teacher is seeing your students give up on work and on themselves. Many things we do as teachers are for our students. Seeing them give up influences us because our methods do not reach them.”

On the other hand, he states, “The best part of being a teacher is seeing your students succeed and being proud of their achievements. After so much planning and work, it feels like an achievement for me as well.”

The classes Mr. Padilla teaches are:

Business and entrepreneurship principles
Income taxes
Digital Information Technology

FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) Sponsor

Mr. Padilla sponsors the Future Business Leaders of America club at Miami Senior High, which he says is like having another class. He feels it is rewarding because club members see the fruits of their labor. For example, this year 18 students competed and 10 of them placed in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in their respective areas and qualified for the state leadership conference. This year they had a new district, and they did very well.

Being a club sponsor, he says, is a lot of work and paperwork. “You do not really get paid a lot to do it,” he said, “but it is rewarding seeing students develop.”

Being in the FBLA looks good on your resume as a student and gives you many opportunities to develop skills. “A lot of my FBLA members are diligent students and do well.” he said, “It feels incredibly rewarding when these students are all successful. Seeing them succeed reminds me that I was also a product of business clubs while I was in college.”

FBLA club members are especially active from September to February. They participate in homecoming, meet every two weeks, compete, have field trips, and attend events such as the district breakfast and the state leadership conference. Mr. Padilla adds that if it were not for fellow business teacher Ms. Benavides, he would not be able to take so many students to state.

In FBLA he believes many students get to investigate areas of interest and to fulfill their curiosity in the club. It is a good idea to join the FBLA club because it helps students develop leadership skills, builds their resume, and lets them take initiative. Other valuable skills developed in the FBLA involve business and tech skills and learning to develop good relationships with people. His expectations for FBLA members are to show up, to commit to preparation for their area of the competition, to do the best they can, and participate as much as they can.

Former Positions

Mr. Padilla has a lot of experience in the business world. He was a tax accountant for 5 years, worked in property and casualty insurance sales at a State Farm for 5-6 years, and did other jobs in finance before hitting 40 and becoming a teacher. He states that being a teacher is the best job he has had. It is the most personally rewarding one, and it gives you a decent quality of life.

The hardest job was tax accounting because some of the work could be complicated, it was labor intensive, involved grueling long hours, and the amount of work in a day is incredibly stressful.

He studied history in college with a minor in education. He went back to school for a 2nd bachelors in finance and a 3rd to get his masters in tax and accounting. Originally, he wanted to be a teacher but went into the business world for 12 years, and finally 16 years later he went back to teaching.

Life outside of teaching

Having worked in many other industries, Mr. Padilla believes that teachers have an excellent work / life balance which he really appreciates and does not take for granted.

In Mr.Padilla’s spare time he likes going on nature expeditions and hiking.

In Mr. Padilla’s spare time, he likes to go to the gym, walking, running, biking, kayaking, going on nature expeditions and hiking. “I love to go to the beach, and I like the outdoors,” he said. “I also like visiting my family, mom, brothers and just in general experiencing new things.”

He has four siblings, and states that he had a fantastic life growing up in a remarkably close family. He came to Miami from Nicaragua when he was 6 years old and said that it was a smooth process learning the English language. His father was a doctor who paid for Mr. Padilla to go to private school during high school.

His hobbies would include reading and doing prison ministry work which involves organizing 5-6 Catholic retreats in Miami-Dade prisons. Mr. Padilla is the director of the Prison Ministry. He leads 50 volunteers and oversees the board of directors. He states, “It’s a lot of work, but it is rewarding.” There are usually around 200-300 prisoners who come to the weekend revival spiritual retreats.