Pioneers of Everest Value: Bobby Marquez

Bobby Marquez brought the math (and more). Fresh from an education program at Loyola-Marymount and Teach For America training, Bobby was recruited ten years ago to Downtown Value School by then-principal Gerry Jacoby. Working closely with experienced teachers to learn the ropes, he was always observing, testing ideas in his classroom, and keeping track of what worked. Soon he and Chris Medinger were talking about what they would do if they could start a program from scratch.

 

Bobby moved confidently into the roles of mentoring teachers and running the Math Department, and his talents showed in student scores. But he also helped create the atmosphere of fun and family that has kept Everest Value families faithful to our trek through thick and thin. To this day, he can recount the stories of “goofball” brothers who turned their lives around, of the angry student who arrived “wanting to hurt somebody” and graduated a performing arts star, and of the college graduates who came back to thank their teachers. It wasn’t magic. As Bobby says: “People really legitimately care. Chris hired genuine people. We’re not clock-driven; we’re a family.”