It seems like only the rare few find work that completely matches and fulfills their unique purpose in this life, and Jorge Espinoza is one of them. An experienced school administrator with a background in school counseling, Mr. Espinoza currently serves as the principal for alternative education in Carlsbad Unified School District just north of San Diego, at Carlsbad Village Academy and Seaside Academy.

Mr. Espinoza is deeply passionate about caring for students and is notorious for doing whatever it takes to demonstrate love and care for students who are struggling to succeed academically. 

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00:00:02,260 --> 00:00:15,700Scott Schimmel: Hey, everybody, welcome to the YouSchool podcast. I've got a good friend of mine in a dynamic leader that I'm excited for you to listen to and get to know. Jorge Espinoza, would you tell me a little bit about how the heck you got to where you are? And where are you?

300:00:17,100 --> 00:01:59,070Jorge Espinoza: Okay, well, I am the alternative education principal for Carlsbad Unified School District. So I have the distinct pleasure of working at Carlsbad village Academy, which is a continuation High School for students that are 16, or right around 60 or older. And typically, the kids come to me because they've fallen behind in credits, and we need to, you know, change the dynamic of high school for them, because for many of them, they just need a smaller environment someplace where they can, you know, have a little bit more eyes on them and accountability. And then I also work for I run Carlsbad seaside Academy, which is an independent study program for kids, you know, just need an alternative to, to a regular high school classroom as well, a lot of these kids that are, you know, they're doing other things, I have a significant number that take college level classes. Some of them are actors, some of them are athletes, some of them are just a dealing with anxiety, and they just have real hard time being in a class of 40 of their closest friends for two hours at a time and yes, can't handle that kind of situation. So that's where I am. So I was just kind of, you know, figuring out, I've been doing alternative Ed now since 2007. A long time. It's it's good time. I've been an assistant principal now or assistant principal principal, for since 2002. And I've been I've been teaching or an education since 1995.

400:02:00,360 --> 00:02:05,940Scott Schimmel: Yeah, it's like old are you normally I don't ask me. Like for now.

500:02:06,630 --> 00:02:11,250Jorge Espinoza: I'm proud of I'm proud to say my 50th birthday will be on October 20 seconds.

600:02:11,430 --> 00:03:10,800Scott Schimmel: Nice. Okay. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So you, I mean, one of the core premises that we have a useful as everybody has a story inside them. And we would say a great story, that's, most people are waiting to figure out what that story is. But you get to in the alternative education space. That's not everyone has a unique story. Like that's why they're there. It's not as I think of a bigger High School, typical high school where there's, there's the the 10% of students that get in trouble or struggling, there's the five to 10% of kids that are just rock stars, and they're involved with everything. And then there's the middle, like the 80% of students that maybe they're just kind of getting through it. And the idea of trying to help them understand what their unique story is, actually, it's a process, it can be difficult. The students you spend time with, are like, here's my it's a story. And it's on, it's out in the open. So is that? Is that a big part of why you like what you do?

700:03:11,950 --> 00:04:40,780Jorge Espinoza: It's a it's a major part of why I love what I do. Yeah, you know, I, I mean, I sit down with every student and every parent before they even start school. So I, I have this, you know, process that I go through with them. And we know discuss what go