By DANIEL GARCIA SALAS

Dr. Joshua Murguia is an English teacher who recently joined the Orangewood Dragon family. 

Dr. Murguia teaches multiple English classes such as English 9, 10 and 12. For him, English is a high-demanding class in high school.

If English didn’t turn out to be his strong suit Dr. Murguia’s states “ I would teach Social Studies.’’ 

Dr. Murguia states “I was unsure of what I wanted to do at first” but when Murguia’s professor suggested that he would be successful as a teacher, his career as an educator started. 

Dr. Murguia teaches both high school and at a local Cal State University. When it comes to teaching his CSU class, he teaches people who are new to and trying to start their own teaching career. 

When it comes to pushing towards success there can be many different ways or strategies. Dr. Murguia, however, pushes students in a different way, trying to make the class relatable to their daily life and building rapport with students. 

Dr. Murguia is known for assigning a good amount of work when it comes to his classes. 

“Although it may be a lot of work, he’s very thorough and really goes through things step by step giving you the best chances at success,” states Orangewood student Brandon Coronado who is a senior student in Dr. Murguia’s class. 

There can be many challenges when it comes to teachers trying to teach students. Murguia believes his hardest challenge when it comes to teaching students would be helping them see the reality of their future, what life is like after graduation. 

Dr. Murguia is very observant and tries to pay close attention to his students. Some challenges students face that Murguia sees would be students struggling with perseverance of their work. 

“They do good for a while and then start to struggle, while still trying to reach their goals,” Dr. Murguia says as he watches his students. 

Orangewood High School is constantly making changes to benefit students. He believes that the school should “have kids take the full six periods and not have it optional at the end of the day.” 

Another change Murguia would like would be the restroom policy having it be more lenient not only for students but teachers, too. 

The easy thing to Murguia when teaching would be showing and expressing to students that he’s here to help. 

Most people work because they have to, but Dr. Murguia says he loves his job and that “there’s a lot of amazing aspects to it.”   

“Mr. Murgia is an exemplary educator,” says resident substitute teacher Ms. K. “Although students may feel that the work he gives is too much or too difficult, I know that his goal is to help his students be their best and by pushing them and challenging them to do more than they think they can, the students build resilience and grit, which are skills they will benefit from beyond the classroom.”  

Teaching is like fuel for Murguia, he enjoys helping not only students but people as well.

If given the opportunity to retire and travel Murguia says he’d like to travel to Japan or Spain. Dr. Murguia doesn’t plan on retiring for another 10 years.