Spanish teacher Jose Escobar has begun his second year of teaching here at Tuscarora, teaching Spanish for bilingual students as well as early levels of Spanish for beginner students. Escobar has been a great addition to THS, as many students feel that he is easy to talk to and a great resource for advice or help with anything, even aside from classwork. As a Brunswick High School and Hood College alumnus, Escobar highlights the various aspects of what he enjoys specifically about teaching here at Tuscarora as well as the Spanish language.

Tuscarora High School exhibits a very wide range of diversity amongst its 1,645 student body, with 23 percent of students being Hispanic and 21.6 percent being African American. Escobar notes that he enjoys “…the environment, the diversity, and…the student body…” here at THS. The wide diversity of students contributes to a greater understanding of various cultures and languages, such as many Spanish speaking countries. He also highlights that with being a teacher, he can “…teach students to be good citizens…and good people in general…” aside from just teaching them what they need to know about Spanish. Even though some students may not believe it, teachers have a great amount of influence in their lives as they step in to fill a role that some students may be missing; someone to believe in them.

Being a teacher comes with a great number of responsibilities–pressure to make sure their students are fully understanding new material, pressure to make sure that their lesson plans are always ready ahead of time, grading assignments in a timely manner, and the hardest part of dealing with all sorts of high school drama. Escobar reflects on the impact that his students have had on him by noting that “…since they work hard, I try to work hard, too,” demonstrating that the work in the classroom does not only contribute to a student’s grade, but rather affects others and who they become. After being asked if teaching is something that he can foresee himself doing for the rest of his life, Escobar responds by saying that “…[he] could see [himself] doing it for a decent amount of time…a few years, decades even…” so for the future Titans (as long as Escobar remains teaching at THS), if you want to know what your teachers are like before the school year starts, this article gives you a good glimpse into who–as students refer to him–Señor Escobar is. 

Aside from teaching, Escobar notes that his ambition is to have a greater impact on people, even further outside of the sphere of THS. He mentions that a goal of his is to “…help you guys out, and the more people [he] can help, the better,” reflecting on his greater purpose as being more than a teacher. As humans, the more individuals that are positively influenced results in greater change within local communities and even wider regions. As a Brunswick High School alumnus, Escobar decided to stay local within Frederick County to teach because “…[he] know[s] that there are students that need help here…” and that “…[he] wanted to help the people that were pretty close to [him]…” referring to his homegrown roots within Frederick County. Escobar’s ultimate goals are slowly coming to life, as he builds relationships with THS students daily and makes it his priority to ensure that he has nothing but a positive impact on them.