What is your general impression of Wilby high school so far? 

“I love the staff. I love the kids. I feel like there are a lot of wonderful people in this building, and I’m extremely happy to be here.”

Please tell us a little bit about your background and how you became a vice principal and what your path was to get to this prestigious position.

“I just recently retired from a 22 year  coaching career coaching high school football. In addition to that, I run the Waterbury kids marathon program. I started that program 8 years ago with 300 students, and I’ve grown it to over 3,000. I worked at North End Middle School previously (Mr. Martinez was the City of Waterbury’s teacher of the year in 2020-21). I also wrote the physical education and health curriculum for the City of Waterbury.

What advice can you offer students at Wilby High School who want to be successful in the future?

“I always tell everybody that you have to have a plan in place when you go through life. You’ve got to have direction. You’ve got to have some guidance and need a positive mentor, and you need hope that you can reach those goals and succeed. And my main goal, my short term goal  for the students of Wilby High School, is to make sure  all my seniors graduate – that’s really really  important to me. …Then being able to have those conversations with students about where you’re gonna go after high school. We don’t just leave a kid flat; we need to make sure he or she has gotten a degree. …I always push students to go to college. College may not be for everybody. Career pathways are so so important, so I just think having a direction is very, very important for students’ success.”