José Lopéz Mercedes

SuperJosèPaulina A Usual Unusual Mentor

In our whole life we meet a lot of people and they help us understand life in different ways. They show how we can change ourselves and they are a sign for a better life. Such people are heroes to us. One of the heroes like that is usual unusual mentor, José Lopéz Mercedes, our teacher from AESL class at Santa Ana College who does a lot of good by his conduct. 

A hero is a person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal. A hero usually does courageous actions which means heroism, but sometimes the very simple things make people special without the need to risk life or going into space.

José Lopéz Mercedes grew up in the Dominican Republic and came to New York, USA, when he was 17 years old. His first job was in the factory from 6am to 7pm. Also he attended an adult school in the evenings at Washington Heights and Manhattan. Now he is working as an AESL assistant professor and he was inspired by the job his own teacher, who was doing this, so he decided to become an instructor. He graduated with a liberal studies degree at Santa Ana College, and next he transferred to California State University of Fullerton to complete a bachelor's degree. He also has a major of liberal studies in Spanish and a Certificate of TESL (Teaching English As A Second Language) and master in Spanish. His plan is to go back to school to start a doctorate in his major. 

Portrait by PaulinaPaulina José likes his job because every day is different and he has the opportunity to help students with language problems, but also personal problems. He is patient, knowledgeable, and flexible. José is a special teacher a with kind attitude for students, so that is what makes him so special. He treats everybody as an individual person, not only like students, and makes sure that everybody feels well and comfortable during a class. José always takes care about everyone, even personal problems. He has a lot of life knowledge, like he tries to answer on everyone's questions, and if he does not know about something, he searches for an answer. José teaches students in very interesting ways. Students can see that he is full of inspiration and enjoys his work. José has a great sense of humor, thanks to which students can tell him everything. 

Our class By LindseyNobody has to be a special person to become a hero. Heroes are among us, as is usual. All people need to do is just to notice it. People become heroes because of what they have done for other usual people. José Lopéz Mercedes is one of those persons who does simple things that makes students have a better life.