Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/458422
R A N D Y S T R I N G E R O N C E served as a minister in a rural community. But these days he is spread- ing the good word about technology to a flock of Foulks Ranch Elemen- tary School students in Elk Grove. Teaching, he says, is divine work of the highest order, because he's making a difference in young lives, making the world a better place, and finding satisfaction on a spiritual level from doing so. Stringer considered teaching while growing up in Kan- sas; he helped the teacher next door grade papers. "She told me that if you can do anything besides teach you should do it, because to be a teacher, you have to feel a calling," he muses. At Fresno State University he became affiliated with the campus church group. Soon he was its leader and a missionary. He spent a summer in San Francisco work- ing in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. In 1990, he enrolled in Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, an interdenominational institution, where he received a mas- ter of divinity degree. He returned to California with his wife, and became a pastor in a San Joaquin Valley church. But something was missing. Looking back, he believes it was a lack of fellowship. His parishioners were mostly white farmers. When he tried to bring some local migrant families from Mexico into the church, his congregants told him they weren't "comfortable." When he brought some of the migrant kids into the vacation Bible school, the reception was also chilly. He began volunteering and substitute teaching in the local school. He immediately felt at home and appreci- ated that school is a place where all people — including English learners — are valued and welcome. He enrolled in the extension program for Chapman College located in Merced to earn a teaching credential. His ministerial background served him well as he seg- ued nicely from church to school. He has compassion and sees the good in every student. He even does home visits to strengthen family ties. "Teaching is a lot like preaching, except with a white- board," chuckles Stringer, Elk Grove Education Associa- tion. "And once I started teaching, I never looked back. I love being part of an educational community. It's defi- nitely my true calling." Minister finds true calling boasts that he can play Italian, gangbanger, Puerto Rican, Cuban or vaquero. But surviving in between acting jobs was hard. Reynoso didn't want to be another "wactor" — slang for an unem- ployed actor/waiter. So he decided to become a teacher. "I wanted to do something constructive to help the com- munity," he explains. "So I thought about teaching. A lot of my friends were teachers, who asked me to come to their classes on Career Day. I liked being a guest speaker and the response I got from the kids. It felt good." With an associate in arts degree from Compton College already under his belt, he enrolled in CSU Dominguez Hills, where he earned a bachelor's degree in theater arts and a teaching credential. He recently produced his own film, Pueblo, about a small town in Mexico that decides to take on a drug lord, and some of his students went with him to Mexico for produc- tion. The film, as they say, is "in the can." Reynoso loves knowing he's making a difference. "For a lot of these kids, I'm the only father they know. And I look at them as little brothers and sisters. I won't walk away from this job until I find someone great that can re- place me. Hopefully, one day, it will be one of my students." Juan Reynoso works with Tytianna Boyd to set up a camera while filming a class project. 21 V O L U M E 1 9 I S S U E 6