A “bittersweet” farewell to Mr. Romo

By Journalism 2 students: Xiomara A., Heyli G., Axel G., Salvador G., Ernesto H., Gehenna N., Omar R., Hector S.

After six years of being at CATS and nine years at Diego Rivera Learning Complex, Mr. Rafael Romo is leaving.

Mr. Romo, who was the senior site coordinator at the complex for the ACE initiative, said it was a “really hard decision to leave.”

He explained that it wasn’t something he decided overnight. “For about 2 years it’s something that I’ve wanted to look for the next step for me so that I can grow professionally and continue, you know, my journey and my career,” he said.

But he also shared that something else led him to look for another job. “At the same time, there was other things that came up in the summer,” he said, “like a fear, like ‘Am I going to have a stable job?’ because my position, you know, has been a little rocky as far as funding.”

He applied and was offered a job at a different school district.

Mr. Romo’s role and presence had a deep impact on staff and students, with so many sharing how much they will miss him.

Assistant Principal Mr. Antonio Roque, who has known him for 8 years, said he feels “bittersweet.”

“We’re gonna miss the work that he does with our students and our staff and with our parents,” he said. “He is very important and the work that we did here in CATS, so in that sense of we are going to miss him very very much.”

But Mr. Roque understands why he is leaving. “I also feel happy for him because I know that he wanted to go into not a different line of work,” he said, “but he wanted to try out something besides CATS, and so I am very happy for him.”

Mr. Romo helped create a sense of belonging at CATS, because, he said it was important for the school to feel like a family, saying, “For me, like, I’m not afraid of saying I love you.”

Teachers and staff share their thoughts

Algebra teacher Ms. Martha Ramos shared that Mr. Romo was such a positive model for students especially male students since they make up the majority of the CATS population.

“His personality is so bubbly, so positive and cheerful that people are just drawn to it,” she said. He credits him with helping her become a better teacher and helping with her leadership class. “Mr. Romo is such a creative person,” she said,  “but if he wasn’t there when I  was struggling, it would have taken me more time to figure things out with my students.”

“His personality is so bubbly, so positive and cheerful that people are just drawn to it.”

Ms. Ramos, Algebra and Leadership teacher

Campus aide Ms. Maria, who has known Mr. Romo for almost a decade, said, “He’s an amazing person. He’s very outgoing, he is always there for the students, he always has a big smile on his face.”

Mr. Octavio Monteon, graphic design teacher, agreed that he will miss his positive energy. “He has a presence to him that he radiates,” he said. “It’s always love, always passion, you know, it’s always good emotions.”

Few people know that Mr. Monteon and Mr. Romo go way back — all the way to high school when he played against Mr. Romo in a basketball game.

“We graduated around the same time. The same year he played for Roosevelt High School, I played for Fremont. And I remember him guarding me and the reason I told him that I remember him is because, you know, he was the shortest player on the team,” he said.

“I shot the ball. I was like, ‘oh, I’m gonna score on him. I’m gonna make this easy.’ I shot the ball and I missed it. So I was like, man, my coach was like, yo, just drive in. You know, like you can score on, on him easily. But I took the shot and I missed it.”

He said, “it was good to know that we had a little connection through basketball and playing sports in high school.”

Students react to Mr. Romo’s leaving

Students also shared their sadness over Mr. Romo’s departure, especially because, as Ms. Maria put it, “He has helped a lot of kids who have issues, you know, personal or fighting, he is always there for them so he has changed a lot of lives and got into our hearts with the staff.”

Senior Leilany P. was part of Mr. Romo’s ACE club and helped to coordinate the many events that Mr. Romo would set up throughout the school day.

She said, “I felt pretty upset because he’s been a really big part of my high school, but, you know, he did it for good reason, and we’re happy for him.”

Junior Jade S. agreed on Mr. Romo’s impact. She said, “I think the best way he has provided for the students is by becoming like a good role model for students.”

Something she will miss the most is Mr. Romo’s motivational speeches because, she said, they were very “inspiring.”

Fellow junior Alexandra M. said she will miss “how he always makes the room light up, like how he always makes someone happy.”

“I’m going to miss when he would support us and motivate us to keep going forward no matter the obstacles,” said senior Joel G. “Everyday he makes me feel connected to the school, like if I were part of the school.”

And he said, he will miss his humor. “I’m also going miss that he would always make me laugh, he tells the greatest jokes,” Joel said.

The future of the ACE club

So what will happen to the ACE club now that Mr. Romo is leaving?

Mr. Romo wants to leave things in place since there will be another ACE site administrator coming in to take his place and continuing what he has started.

In the meantime, Ms. Dorantes will be taking over until the ACE site administrator comes.

Mr. Romo shared that, “[Ms. Dorantes] volunteered, she was so excited, ’cause this year we started a great program with ACE club and the ELD students.”

In the program, the ACE students help newcomer Emergent Bilingual students with doing the assignments during advisory.

Leilany P. thinks things will be different because, she explained, Mr. Romo did so much.

“But we’re really excited to see what happens, and we’re really excited to see what else is in store,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep the, like, pride alive as students since he was the one that had kept it alive for us.”

And speaking of CATS Pride — if you ever find yourself missing Mr. Romo’s trademark CATS Pride chant, you can listen to the audio below.