SAN ANTONIO — As the saying goes, Patience is a virtue and for one Southside ISD teacher, it’s what he lives by in the classroom. His calm demeanor has earned him respect among students and in turn, they say, they have better grades because of him.
KENS 5 Anchor Sarah Forgany visited his Southside ISD classroom with KENS 5 partner Credit Human and presented him with the EXCEL Award and a $1,000 check.
Ever since he was just a kid, "I'm very competitive,” Jason Garcia believed he could do anything, “so whatever you give me, I'm going to do the best that I can do at it."
He’s a handyman, a cook, a guitar player, and before he was a coach and a teacher.
"I was a landscaper. I was running a landscaping company," said Garcia.
Turns out the company of kids is what he prefers most.
These days, Garcia teaches eighth grade science while coaching track and football at Losoya Middle School. He’s a product of the southside and he’s proud.
"I played football, I ran track, I played basketball," said Garcia. "I was a National Honor Society student council, all the UILS."
Proving you can succeed at anything you put your mind to.
“I was just really proud because I'm very competitive,” Garcia said. “I would go to things like for scholarships. Well, on the north side, you know, some places, and it was just like kind of, Oh, you're from the south side, You know, we're like, oh, you know? And I was like, hmm, okay. So the only thing I can do is try super hard to prove you guys wrong or to show that I'm equal."
He says it has had a tremendous impact on who he is now. Graduating salutatorian is exactly the type of Cinderella story he loves to share with his students.
“I told the kids, my job is to show you guys that you're as good as anybody else and that you can do anything you want to do and you're from the South Side," said Garcia.
Even his Instagram classroom projects show he’s a man not afraid to fail or fall.
“I bring a skateboard in and show them, like, inertia, things like that. I think I fell down once," said Garcia. "Right, sir? That's inertia, right? Your body will tend to stay in motion and hit the ground. I was like, Yeah, until I hit the ground."
14-year-old Drake Landeros is an 8th grader in Garcia’s classroom. He said he performs better in science class because of Garcia’s teaching method.
"He just doesn't really yell a lot and, I used to hate science, but when he teaches it, I like being here,” Landeros added, “I used to get C's, and now it's been straight A's for science.”
As for Garcia, “I'm just patient with them.” He added showing the kids he understands and respects them, makes all the difference.
“A lot of times those little things, it's nothing personal," said Garcia. "A lot of times it's maybe something happened at home or these children have difficult home lives.”
It’s about building a relationship he said, “and once they do that, there's kind of like a bond that comes along."
You can check out the stories of past winners and all the KENS 5 EXCEL Award presentations on kens5.com/excel.