Mr. Pimentel is an Algebra 2 teacher that everyone knows and loves. He has been teaching math at Miami High for 4 years and is also the Honoria club advisor.
Life as a teacher
Miami High is the first place he has taught, and he couldn’t be happier. Over these past few years, he has learned a lot being here at Miami high like how to stand up for himself inside the classroom and outside.
Teaching is a full-time job for him; even outside of school he must do work. Other than being a geometry teacher, Mr. P said that he would like to teach chemistry because of the math, and he thinks that the “chemistry labs would be so cool”.
Mr. P said that he became a teacher because he “wanted to help kids who felt like they didn’t have a chance in high school.” He said that when he was young, he never liked any of his classes or doing his homework.
Going into college, he knew he wanted to become a teacher to be able to instruct in a different style to “keep the kids interested” and eager to learn.
Mr. P loves teaching here at Miami High because of the students. “They are one of a kind,” he said. “I also love the community. It’s very special and I love how the clubs are very involved in student life.”
His club life
Other than being a math teacher, Mr. P is the advisor of the Honoria club. He works hard with club officers during homecoming season to be able to build a float for the parade. Last year, Honoria pulled off their first 1st place win in over 11 years with their Looney Tunes float, and this year they worked on a float with their USA theme.
He said last year he was shocked when they announced Honoria won, but, in the end, he was excited and happy for the members who put all their hard work into their performance.
He mentioned how his life gets so stressful during homecoming season because he basically starts to work twelve-hour shifts. During homecoming season he gets to school at 6:30 AM and leaves at 7:00 PM to get home at 9:00. Homecoming Day he leaves the school the night before at 2:30 AM to get home, shower and then immediately leave at 3:00 AM to come back to school for the parade.
His life has clearly changed a lot while becoming Honoria advisor 3 years ago. His schedule before that was just coming to school teaching and tutoring for somedays. When he became advisor ,he started getting more responsibilities and staying later, but in the end he loves giving his members a home and safe space to be able to express themselves. He also loves seeing the great work that they do during the year.
What is he into?
In his words, his greatest success in life is marrying his wife. After his 9-5, his 5-9 is getting home to cook with his wife and meal prep for the week. He said he got a dog because he and his wife felt like the house needed a little more energy, so they got a dog.
Mr. P likes to balance work with many hobbies. He likes to spend time walking his dog, Percy. Other than spending time with his dog and his wife, he likes to play video games and sing karaoke. His secret passion is the use of the yoyo. “Give me the yo-yo and I can pull out the tricks,” he said, noting that he went through a yo-yo phase when he was young.
Other than the yo-yo, he loves when people put in efforts to the most random things. He has a passion for storytelling. “I love movie stories, video game stories and actually absorbing them and being interested,” he said.
Where he started
Mr. Pimentel was born and raised in Miami. When he graduated high school he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He just knew that he was really good at mathematics and that’s what he wanted to pursue. So, he went to Miami Dade College for two years for his associates. And then he went to FIU to major in Mathematics, and there they offered him a scholarship for FIU Teach, to teach him how to be a teacher. Other than mathematics he wished he had majored in engineering.
Mr. P never really wanted to go to college because he never liked school. He felt like he was never a good student and that college wasn’t for him. He didn’t want to put in the effort for college that he didn’t put in for high school, but he ended up going because he realized that people can’t really do much without a degree.
When he majored in mathematics he didn’t think that becoming a teacher would be that hard, but in his words, “ The hardest part of becoming a teacher is choosing to be a strict teacher or a fun teacher.” Luckily he found the middle ground of both of those.
