Technology Teacher Jerry Esparza has experienced great life changes, coming from a troubled childhood and transforming into a profound leader.
Photo courtesy Jerry Esparza
Jerry Esparza lives by these words from Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” He is one that truly understands commitment and gives everything that he has to all aspects of his life.
Esparza was born and raised in Corona, California along with four siblings. At the age of nine Esparza’s mother became a single parent, left to care for the five children on her own. “My mother worked incredibly hard. On top of raising us and working she was also going to school to get her degree. She’s the one who taught me the true value of education,” said Esparza. Despite his mother’s endurance, life wasn’t about to get any easier for his family when his brother left when Esparza was still a young boy at the age of 14. “My older brother was the head of the household and with him gone I was left in charge.” Esparza said he found himself having an incredibly hard time dealing with such great responsibility.
As Esparza began to feel unable to meet the expectations set for him as head of the house, he rebelled by associating with bad peer influences. This group proved to be worse for him when his mother left for a month to go to Africa to experience education abroad. “When my friends found out my mother was going to be out-of-town, and my house being two stories and having a pool, it became the party house.” The rest of his siblings stayed with relatives, allowing Esparza the home to himself. It became the summertime escape for everyone, where night after night parties emerged at his now deteriorating home. Esparza grimly reflected on its appearance. “The pool turned green, the walls were littered with graffiti, things were broken, and it reeked of alcohol and smoke.”
Once the month had expired his mother returned naively in the night, unable to assess the damage to its full extent. In the middle of the night, however, his house was broken into by one of the frequenters to his parties. Esparza sadly recalled the night saying, “When my mom got home she put all her souvenirs out on her kitchen table then headed off to bed. Later that night I heard some rustling in the house but was too scared to check it out. My mom started screaming, asking if it was me, and when I told her it wasn’t she rushed out of her room and downstairs to find her gifts gone.” Even after the tragedy of the night, Esparza’s mother lacked the words to lecture him and beyond a light scolding; he was let off the hook.
In the interim of this all, Esparza was also communicating with his older brother, Larry, who was in the Navy, through harsh letters. “We would write back and forth extremely negatively, using the most degrading words, until one day I opened up his letter to read something completely surprising.” Larry’s words were full of understanding and forgiveness for his brother, telling him how he had found peace and urging him to follow the words of the Lord. During his time in Panama, Larry had been exposed to a dedicated Christian family in which the father was a preacher. As fate would have it, the family his brother met in Panama moved five miles away from where Esparza lived in California. Esparza soon began to go to church services, and says he slowly learned the ways of Christ. With his new influences, Esparza submitted himself to a radical change. “I began to completely rethink life. I didn’t give up my friends; and even though they gave me a hard time about becoming a born again Christian – calling me names like preacher boy – they accepted me for the new person I was.” He says he gave up all previous bad habits, he stopped smoking and quit cussing, and was led to do only wholesome things.
At the age of 16 Esparza left the public school system and attended Pomona Bible Missionary Christian School for two years. To further his religious education, he continued on to the Bible Missionary Institute in Rock Island, Illinois. “I loved my time there but I knew that despite my passion for it I didn’t want to have a career related to Christian ministry.” He decided to change paths and, being that he was already in Illinois, he decided to stay there and attend community college. Altogether he spent 12 years in the college, and despite working while getting his Associates Degree in Psychology, he managed to find time to meet his wonderful wife, Heather. He and his wife moved to Iowa where he attended school to get his teaching degree with an emphasis on science. “DPS (Denver Public Schools) recruited me before I was even done student teaching.”
Throughout his time in Colorado, Esparza has worked at Kepner Middle School as a science teacher, Grant Middle School as a technology teacher, School to Career as a resource specialist, Grant Ranch K-8 as a resource specialist, and his latest at Thomas Jefferson High School as a CCT Magnet teacher. “All together I’ve been teaching for 23 years and have really enjoyed it. Someday I wish to be an administrator in a middle school, but I’m certainly in no hurry.”
Despite the teacher persona, Esparza does in fact enjoy things outside of school. “I love to go hiking and do wood working; I even have my own shop. I also love photography; whenever I go somewhere I have my camera right with me.” He says he doesn’t enjoy watching television or movies or even sports, but all the same he’s a huge Tim Tebow fan. “Tebow’s not afraid to share his faith wherever he is; it’s not a show, and that’s just who he is and I appreciate that about him. I find him extremely commendable.”
Esparza says his family is one of the most important aspects of his life. His children are following in his footsteps; all three attend Hobe Sound Bible College in Hobe Sound, Florida, just north of West Palm Beach. “My daughter is doing mission aviation, learning to fly to take missionaries around the world. My son, even though he’s going to the bible school wants a career in criminal justice; he wants to get more into investigation. My oldest son is a business multimedia specialist; he’s mainly learning how to run a business and building websites.” Esparza was highly looking forward to their return for Christmas.
