A truly amazing teacher is hard to find and impossible to forget. When I leave the Islands this June, I will find it most difficult to part ways from Mr. Adrian Garcia, my Statistics teacher.

Mr. Garcia is a tall man with dark hair and a dark beard. A majority of the time he is sporting CI soccer gear, which he coaches, or UCSB, his alma mater.  However, the one thing he is always guaranteed to have is a huge smile on his face. Mr. Garcia radiates happiness and optimism. He is the type of person to see the glass as half full, rather than half empty. He is constantly looking for the good in situations and people.

Despite not having crossed paths with him until this school year, in the few months that I have known him, Mr. Garcia has managed to impact me as a student and as a person.

My whole life I have hated math and the idea of it. But in Mr. Garcia’s Statistics class I found the first ever math class I enjoyed and understood. Mr. Garcia has a way of making learning fun, and he takes away the fear of asking questions. Anytime I have a question or am confused, he is there to answer and/or explain.

Aside from impacting how I feel as a student, he has also changed the way I view the world and myself. He makes you believe in yourself the way he believes in you. In his class there is daily encouragement to reach your goals and not give up until you get to them, whatever they may be.

I consider myself to be a fairly negative person and always focus on the bad, but Mr. Garcia has taught me to do the opposite of that.  He is honest and doesn’t judge, which makes him easy to approach and open up to. On top of that he is very open-minded as well. He sees all perspectives not just the “teacher/adult” one. Although he gives what he calls “the same corny” advice, Mr. Garcia somehow always manages to say the right thing at the right time.

Above all else, Mr. Garcia is relatable.

He himself was a first-generation college student, so he understands the pressure there. He is also Mexican and embraces the culture and traditions. He grew up in a similar way to how most of us here at the Islands have so he is able to place himself in our shoes no problem. And despite being older than his students, at heart he is and feels like one of us.