Have you seen a teacher that has tons of school spirit around campus? Have you seen a teacher that is so involved not only in school and sports but also in student learning? Well one must of heard about Mr. West!

Mr. West is an AP Government/Government/World History teacher here at La Joya and has been a teacher for five years now. His fellow students would describe him as energetic, fun, super outgoing, extroverted, and he loves to interact with his students.

“You always see him with a smile. He is jumpy and just happy to be here” said Domenik Valdivia, who is a senior at La Joya and also a fellow student of Mr. West.

One of the reasons why he decided to be a teacher was because of the great teachers he had, and hoped that one day he would be able to impact his students the same way his teachers did with him.

“I applied in December of 2013, and Mrs. Haskins called. My phone ended up answering on its own and she heard me playing some really heavy guitar and still ended up interviewing me. But I ended up getting the  job, luckily, in then middle of winter.” Said Mr. West on how he got his job at La Joya.

What Mr. West loves most about his job is to get to watch students learn and grow everyday. He loves to get to see their personalities grow.  He loves that he is able to have students all their four years and by senior year he gets to see that they are a whole different person.

“I admire him because he cares about us a lot and makes sure that we have everything we need to succeed. My favorite thing about him is that you can connect with him really easily and he just has a super bubbly personality” said Victoria Johnson, who is a senior at La Joya and also a fellow student of Mr. West.

“Some advice I’d give is to enjoy school while you can because at one point all your doing is working, and if you don’t do something you don’t love, ya know its work everyday. This isn’t work for me everyday, this is life” said Mr. West.

Mr. West also encourages students to try things and its ok to make mistakes. “You never know what your going to like until you do it” said Mr. West.