Mr. Thomas Duarte is a math teacher at Anaheim High School. He initially had not planned to come to Anaheim High School. When he was hired into the Anaheim Union High School district, he got a job teaching at Katella High School. He was then moved to Anaheim high school because Katella had too many teachers, and Anaheim didn’t have enough. Mr. Thomas Duarte says, “When I got here, I ended up loving it here.” 

Mr. Thomas Duarte started his college career at Santa Ana Community College. He was there for three years until he transferred to Cal State Fullerton for three more years. He took this route because he knew he had to pay for his own college expenses, so he decided to take “the cheaper route.” Mr. Thomas Duarte did say that “It also allowed me to play sports, so I played Baseball during my first two years of college before I ended up retiring.”

When Mr. Thomas Duarte was in High School, in an English class, the teacher was giving a lecture, and while doing so, he was casually swinging a golf club in class. Mr. Thomas Duarte says, “I remember seeing him and being like, he’s an older guy, about to retire, he still looks good, healthy, and he just looks like he enjoyed his life.” That was the moment he decided to become a teacher. What was very compelling about becoming a teacher to Mr. Thomas Duarte was that his English teacher looked excellent and healthy at retiring age. In comparison,  his family, who worked in construction,  looked worn down, stressed, and tired when they got older. He knew that was not the life that he wanted.

 Mr. Thomas Duarte is not sure if he will stay in Anaheim for the rest of his career. He said that “If I am still teaching High School, then I’ll end up staying at Anaheim High School but, who knows what my next steps are.” He also does not have any specific goals for his career yet. He has thought about branching out doing other things like Real Estate and Investing. Mr. Thomas Duarte has had no regrets about becoming a teacher. The only other path he has ever thought of taking was becoming a Police Officer. He shares, “I was thinking about being a police officer only because I heard that I can retire in 20 years after working.”