From Lima, Peru to San Diego, California, Mr. Jorge Fernandez Velasco has come to San Diego to be able to do what he loves best, and that is teaching. Mr. Fernandez has been here at Cathedral as a long-term sub for Spanish teachers Mrs. Raquel Olson and Mrs. Eugenia Velasquez, but now he is happy to be one of our new full-time Spanish teachers on campus.

But teaching wasn’t his first calling.

“All my life, I’ve always wanted to be a pilot,” he said. “That’s what I was supposed to be. And I wanted to learn English because pilots need English,” he said. Mr. Fernandez’s father was a flight engineer and had always pushed Mr. Fernandez to learn English. His only reason for learning English was to become a pilot, but he later came to notice he had a passion for the language. “Just like how some kids like to surf, I like to learn new words and pronunciations,” he said.

At the age of thirteen, he started to take private English classes, two hours a day, five days a week. He took those classes for four years and after that he helped other people learn English. That’s when he discovered his love for teaching. He didn’t want to be a teacher at first, but it was something that flowed naturally in him and he felt comfortable with it.

When asked what he liked teaching better, English, Math, or Spanish, he said, “What I like better I think is to just teach students. It could be Spanish or it could be English. I just enjoy being in front of people and helping them learn.”

Mr. Fernandez was born in Lima, Peru where he grew up most of his life. He studied at the University of Lima, but later decided he wanted to come to San Diego to study. He arrived in San Diego on May 31, 1999, which was a Memorial Day. “That’s why I think Americans have a Memorial Day. They celebrate the day I came to America,” he said.

He got his Bachelor’s degree in science a business degree at Azusa University and later got his Masters degree in teaching at Chapman University. He lived with his sister in Ocean Beach for the his first few years in San Diego but moved to Carmel Valley when he met his wife, Susanne. They met at a dance at All Hallows school where they were both members of a Catholic’s Singles Club. “It was love at first sight. For her,” he said with a laugh.

Mr. Fernandez comes from a very religious family, and he loves the

Catholic community here at Cathedral, and he also enjoys that he can share his faith both at home and here at school. “No matter what you do in life, your faith will carry you on,” he said.

Mr. Fernandez has three daughters. His firstborn, Karen, is now twenty-seven years old and lives in Miami. Here, he has two daughters. One daughter who is nine, Jillian, and one who is twelve, Kate. He says they are really excited Mr. Fernandez is teaching at Cathedral because they have always loved this school just as much as he does.

Mr. Fernandez looks forward to be a part of our Cathedral Catholic High School community this year and he hopes his passion for teaching will “ignite in the students a passion for learning,” he said.