Passion can be described as a strong feeling of enthusiasm and a reason to get up in the morning.
In a school with people of diverse backgrounds everyone has different passions. A person’s passion is unique to them. It is a reflection of character. Learning about others’ passions can give you a glimpse of who they are as a person and broaden your perspective of the world you live in.
A person’s passion can be as simple as helping others. A prime example of a person who has this passion is part of the Stevenson community. You may have seen him in the admission office or you may have seen him at the pool deck coaching the swim team. This person is Franco Pacheco.
Mr. Pacheco’s passion is being involved in the community, which to him means a variety of things. For example, making sure we have a great group of students coming in to keep our community enriched and viable. Outside of Stevenson Pacheco ensures that the things he does during his free time benefit the place he is from.
Pacheco quotes that in his youth, “he was very problematic,” but had amazing role models like his father who started off as a janitor and worked his way up helping his community and people guiding him like teachers when he went to college.
Mr. Pacheco notes that his coach played a pivotal role in his life. He says, his coach supported him and made sure that he graduated college. Knowing that someone’s positive actions can impact your others is the root of his passion.
A person’s passion goes back further back to their upbringing. For Mr. Pacheco, “ The biggest impact has been seeing my friends I grew up with really struggle with life and not be successful but I think watching them in my older brothers go through that really changed the way I saw the world. It gave me the feeling that I need to be better and I could do better and so I think that early childhood experiences really impacted my passion for helping others.”
The feeling a person gets from doing something they're passionate about can vary.For Mr. Pacheco's feeling is purposeful.
An experience that solidified this passion for Mr. Pacheco was an experience he had with a student. While Mr. Pacheco taught in a collage in Maine, he mentored and guided a student until graduation Noticing the change he made on that student was confirmation that he could make, “a difference in someone’s life.”
Mr. Pacheco is part of a program called Community Partnership for Youth (CPY). It is a community outreach program based in Seaside, whose targeted audience is less fortunate youth. CPY provides housing.Given the parents work until late evening hours, there is a large chunk of unsupervised time. A lot of youth violence happens from 3-6, so youth are able to find refuge at CPY when they don't have a place to go. CPY is a program beyond childcare.. They also engage youth in classes and teach them languages like Japanese. CPY is a chance to enrich themselves from 3-6 pm.
Learning about others' passions is inspiring. Even if helping others isn’t a passion of yours, the act of being kind and guiding others can change someone’s life and can even change yours.
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