From economics to art classes, to football coach, to teacher, to Assistant Principal, Felipe Torres has quite the story to tell. Claire Brandon, a Raccoon Rambler contributor, was able to sit down one-on-one with Mr. Torres to talk about his life as a person and educator. Mr. Torres loved school from a young age, and one of his favorite classes was history. “From a very young age, I enjoyed school…, particularly history.” He said that he had so many teachers that inspired him to fall in love with education. Now, Mr. Torres is that teacher.

He started as a teacher at Frisco High School, where he taught history. Mr. Torres taught history by telling stories. His methods stemmed from traveling to Italy in college for an art appreciation class. As he and his colleagues were painting, he told the story of Michael Angelo. After that, they told him how good he was at telling stories. That made him realize how much he wanted to be in education. It was something that made him happy. He even talked about how he worked for a bank and a restaurant, but he said that he could not see himself doing that for the rest of his life. Now that he has been at Frisco High School, he can say that his favorite part is the students. He loves them, and we love him for his pure joy and smile.

Mr. Torres got to extend his love for students, even more, when he was promoted to be an AP at FHS. He does admit to missing the classroom, but he loves that he gets to help students, as well as put his family in a better position. Mr. Torres always talks about embracing change, and so, FHS embraces this change of having Mr. Torres as an AP. Even for students who will never get the opportunity to meet Mr. Torres, he gave a certain piece of advice to Frisco High School students, that can apply to all students, “Try different things.” To the seniors, “Embrace change…be open to where life takes you, and do not be afraid of the challenge to change…Good luck!”

This interview is the perfect example of how everyone has a story to tell if a person just asks. It is interesting to hear people, like Mr. Torres, tell people about themselves and their life. Listening and being open to other people’s stories, allows for people to share their stories as well as broaden their horizons and be open to new ideas. If this staff spotlight interests you, Claire Brandon encourages readers to go ask a teacher a few questions about their life. It is worth a student’s time, as well as allows students to learn something new. So many other staff members have stories to tell. 

Everybody has a story to tell. That story might be yours. What’s your story?

For more information about this story, please listen to the audio presentation on this page.