Francisco Rivera is a life-skills teacher who joined the staff of Santa Fe High in 2016. “I enjoy working with the people I work with,” he said. “I enjoy building relations with the students here.”

Originally from Santa Fe, Mr. Rivera earned his degree in liberal arts at the University of New Mexico. He wanted to work at Santa Fe High because he graduated from here in 1999. “It was cool to come back to Santa Fe High,” he said. “It’s strange because I was one of those students who would always be in the principal’s office, and now when I see students in the principal’s office, I shake my head.”

Mr. Rivera is also one of the basketball coaches. (He played for the Demons for one season.)

Regarding his hobbies, Mr. Rivera said, “[Basketball] takes up a lot of my time, but I do enjoy reading about politics.” He added, “I used to [play] a lot of poker in Las Vegas, Nevada.” He is unmarried, but he has a girlfriend.

Mr. Rivera said he chose to become a teacher because it has a direct impact on our future society and “it’s fun.”