Whenever I enter Mr. Meza’s auto shop class, it feels like recess.

Not because we play around–which, we do–but because we get to do what we love. Playing with cars.

Mr. Meza has been teaching for 17 years and I have been in his class for a year now. It has never been a bad or boring experience. He loves working and doing anything with cars. He makes the whole class laugh; they’re never quiet and Mr. Meza always keeps it active.

Everyone respects Mr. Meza because of his personality and how he treats everyone. At the Homecoming Game this year, as the Seniors were being introduced, many of them said he was their favorite teacher. That made it clear to me that he’s not just a teacher for specific people, but for everyone.

He treats everyone as if they were his own kids and family. There has not been a time where he has been disrespectful. There is mutual respect everywhere.

One day, there was a senior in class. His name, for the purposes of this piece, was Junior. Junior wanted to be a doctor, and even though this had nothing do with auto shop, Mr. Meza took the time to pull Junior aside and help him make phone calls and set up his registrations with colleges.

There was this other day when one of my classmates needed to work on a presentation for a different class, and Mr. Meza stopped everything to give them an opportunity to practice with us.

And not only does Mr. Meza work on cars in class with students, after school he spends time helping people with their own cars.

I have been lucky to have him for automotive class. I love cars and have always wanted to learn about them, and he is helping everyone do that.