Melo: building relationships, connections

“My students are very important to me because they are our future leaders,” said new Spanish teacher Anthony Melo.

Melo is originally from Orange County in California. He moved to the South and started another life her in SC, attending South Florence High School. Melo is a recent graduate of Francis Marion University. During high school, Melo said he learned a whole new language besides Spanish; he also learned French. Melo said he loves a challenge so he figured that West was a good place to branch out and meet new people. He also wanted to get a feel for a new school environment.

Some of Melo’s goals while he is here are to always build a relationship with his students and create trust with the students. He checks in with his students everyday; they tell him how they are doing and he responds to them to shows them that he listens to them and cares about them. He wants every student to walk into his class knowing they are safe and cared for.

Most of Melo’s family is from Mexico; actually his favorite phrase to say in Spanish is ‘Viva México’ or ‘Long live Mexico.’ A few fun facts about Melo are that he loves to watch the Netflix series Dynasty and he loves olive green. Melo's favorite music is country music and his favorite food is “any kind of Mexican food;” he also loves salads.

Melo is enjoying WF so far, citing the administration team as being very supportive of students. He is also appreciative of his fellow teachers who challenge him and said he loves the “connection between them.”

Melo said if you are ever in his class this is his message. He is a pretty easy going guy and all of his students know it. He also loves to have fun in his class while learning.