Ray Salazar (Nevarez-7th Period)

It was nearing the end of sixth period, only a few minutes left until the bell rings, and I had to go to my seventh period class, and interview Mr. Salazar. I watched the clock nervously, watching every second tick by, taking me closer to my seventh period class. The bell finally rung, and I rushed to my seventh period class. Hoping I’d have some time to go over my questions, I’d be asking Mr. Salazar. I walked into room 400 and instantly realized Mr. Salazar was not there yet. I took a huge breath, I was relieved that gave me more time to go over my questions, and I was going to take advantage of that. I quickly got to my seat, and went over my questions, brainstorming more questions I’d have to ask Mr. Salazar. Then finally Mr. Salazar walked in. he sat down with my group. I was nervous, negative thoughts going through my mind like “Will he think my questions are stupid?”

We immediately began the interview, Mr. Salazar seemed like a very cool, nice person to me. We began the interview with very simple questions like where he grew up, how it was like growing up, why people consider him a community hero, and what his average day is like, etc,. Mr. Salazar grew up in 26^th street, he believes that was a good place for his family to grow up in, but life started getting more difficult as he grew up, but as the tough gets going, the going gets tough. People consider him a community hero, because he dedicates a lot to helping out our community. For example, Mr. Salazar recently started a blog where he posts his opinions, and how we can improve our community, even though he was a little nervous about it at first. He seemed very calm; he was answering every question with ease. Then we started to ask him a bit more difficult question. Like me asking him “Has a student ever impacted your life?” and “Do you consider what people consider your “heroic” action really that heroic?” Mr. Salazar said many students have impacted his life, some students have inspired him. He also doesn’t believe what people consider his “heroic” action really that heroic, he believes he’s doing what he NEEDS to do, the right thing. It was a great experience interviewing Mr. Salazar. I learned many things from him, in such a short amount of time.

 
I learned a lot of things from Mr. Salazar that day. One thing I learned from Mr. Salazar is that if the going gets tough, you go tough, and just don’t give up. Anything is possible. Probably the most important thing I learned from Mr. Salazar was that you shouldn’t just do stuff, just to be considered a “hero”. You’re supposed to do what YOU’RE supposed to do. You’re supposed to do what’s right.

Written by Giovanni A.