“This is my third year of being a teacher, all of it at Armijo,” said Mr. Matthew Pence. “I teach Conceptual Physics and that is all I have taught.” While he is still getting his feet wet as a teacher, he has been coaching Cross Country and Track and Field since the year after he graduated high school.

“I was becoming more involved as a coach here at Armijo and wanted to help make sure that I could be around to try and make sure things were going well for my athletes,” he said. “Being a teacher means that I am on campus and can be better plugged into what is going on to help them out as they go through high school.”

Interacting with the students is the most rewarding part of the job and Mr. Pence enjoys knowing that he makes an impact on his students and is glad to be helping in their lives. He said that future teachers would benefit from this experience, “even if they aren’t the biggest fans of their subject… (it) makes all of the work worth it!”

Considering a future is important in high school, but living in the future is also valuable. Mr. Pence said that he would love it if more Armijo students tried to involved themselves in some aspect of the school, “whether that is sports or clubs, I don’t care, but I wish they would find something to invest themselves in,” he said. “I think this would help so many of our students find something they care about and groups of people to support them, and it would go a long way to helping make the campus culture even better.”

He speaks from experience. Mr. Pence went to Armijo High School, and then to UC Davis. After two years at UC Davis, he switched to Solano Community College where he switched his major. Then he returned to UC Davis to finish his degree.

Teaching and coaching don’t take up all of Mr. Pence’s time. “I play Magic: The Gathering quite a bit when I can find some free time,” he said. “I am a competitive person and have had a lot of fun playing in large tournaments for that game.”