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Osborn teacher dedicated to his students success
teacher-spotlight
Osborn Elementary School teacher Robert Santos poses for a picture with his students after receiving a $1,000 check from Office Max to help with resources and school supplies for his fourth grade class. - photo by Photo Contributed

For the past 17 years, teacher Robert Lopez has been going to work everyday with the goal of helping his students succeed in life.  
With his strong passion for teaching, most would think he always wanted to be a teacher, but surprisingly he never had the intention of being an educator.  He originally entered college as a business major, but his path changed when he helped out his Migrant Education teacher.  
“I enjoyed working with the students,” Lopez said. “I had people help me when I was a kid, so now it’s my turn to help others.”  
Lopez is now teaching fourth grade at Osborn Elementary. His favorite subject to teach is Math because of the different ways he can work with the numbers to teach each individual student the way they would best understand it because every student learns differently, he said.  
Lopez’ said his goal as a teacher is to help his students become life-long learners. He said he wants to show his students that they do have the opportunity to go to college and it is something they should pursue in the future. He wants to help them continue to raise their ability level so they have less struggles to keep up.    
“I want to show them that they can succeed,” he said.  
Lopez has experience teaching third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade. This is his first year teaching fourth grade. He has also taught in Patterson in Migrant Education, Crowell Elementary as a teacher’s aid for English Language Learners and now at Osborn Elementary.  
In his free time, Lopez said he loves spending time with his two daughters.  According to Lopez, right now is a busy time for his family with soccer season and harvest season in full swing. He has 10 acres of almonds.  
When he isn’t busy raking up almonds or supporting his daughters on the side lines, Lopez said he enjoys spending time with a big group of about 30 friends going on camping trips.  
Overall, Lopez said he supports the mission of Osborn Elementary and wants to help all the English Language Learners to improve their test scores.  Lopez received a $1,000 check Tuesday from Office Max to help support his class with resources and school supplies.    
Every year, Office Max adopts a classroom to help out with expensive school supplies for the students and Lopez’ classroom was selected. Lopez was surprised and had no idea he was receiving a donation for his classroom.
Lopez said he plans on being a teacher until he retires because he loves teaching so much. He said he really enjoys watching the students’ faces’ light up when they see that they did well on an assignment or a test.  
“Hopefully, I will get to be here until they kick me out,” Lopez said.      
To contact Maegan Martens, e-mail mmartens@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2015.