By: Noah Ramos & Savannah Valdez
As many students were eager to meet our new principal, Mr. Portillo, the Quill Staff wished to welcome him as our first Staff Spotlight for the year. Mr. Portillo was happy to have been chosen for this momentous article. To start off, we wanted to know the main reason why Mr. Portillo wanted to work in this district, specifically here at PHS. He claimed to have been in the area before and had lived in West Texas when he happened to see an administrative position open here near the San Antonio area. Since Mr. Portillo wanted to go back to a traditional high school, he felt it was the perfect opportunity and applied here to our school PHS. He previously had already been to Devine and Cotulla but never close enough to travel into Pleasanton which encouraged him to check this town out even more. After the interview process with the school district, Mr. Portillo was hired to be the principal here at PHS.
What motivates Mr. Portillo is when people doubt him or he doubts himself. He knows that we are all human and should stand back up when we fall. Even if at the moment it may hurt, it is for the best. “Remaining positive ensures that you can overcome any obstacles you face. If those around you don’t always have the confidence, they might be too afraid to show it, and that’s okay.” This is Mr. Portillo’s mindset and he won’t stop for any obstacle that blocks his path as long as he stays positive to himself then nothing will keep him from his goal.
Mr. Portillo didn’t plan to become a campus administrator until 10 years ago. He was a Teacher/Coach and was approached by the principal of the current school he was employed at. They suggested that Mr. Portillo would be a great administrator. They then asked if he had ever thought of becoming one himself but Mr. Portillo at the time enjoyed being a coach and declined the offer. He was then asked to think about it. Later, Mr. Portillo decided to go back to school in order to be available to become a principal and ended up getting hired as an assistant principal in Midland. After another 2-3 years the principal at Midland asked if he had thought about working on his superintendence. Like before, Mr. Portillo felt fine where he was and declined the offer once again. They wanted him to think about getting it done himself and eventually, he got his superintendence done after thinking hard about it. He had planned to get into college coaching, but after trying out being an administrator, he loved it too much to give it up. Even though he took on a new position, he still made an effort to attend games for the kids. He still pondered becoming a superintendent himself but knew he wouldn’t get to work with kids as often but liked to interact with his students and get to know them better.
One of his goals for PHS is to improve student outcomes and feels it should be everyone on the campus who works in education. As well as improving academics and helping students who struggle in school rather than leaving them to figure it out for themselves. Mr. Portillo wants to make sure when students leave high school they will be ready for the outside world. Even though not every person may be able to do college there are still other options available to those who take the opportunity to inquire about it. So hopefully after reading this article you got to learn more about our new principal Mr. Portillo.