A group of thoughtful high school students presented a new car to their math instructor, who journeyed more than four hours each day by bus.
Julio Castro, a 31-year-old math teacher at Yula High School in Los Angeles, California, is adored by his students. Julio lives in Santa Clarita, and the bus ride to his Jewish private school in Los Angeles takes around two hours and twenty minutes each way.
“That takes about two hours. If I miss my bus, I have to wait another half hour or an hour,” Julio explained.
Despite his four-plus hour drive each day, Julio frequently spends extra time after school and even during his lunch breaks helping pupils who need more help learning arithmetic.
“He made sure I understood everything by sitting down with me during his lunch breaks and sacrificing his time after school, where he might have been rushing to the bus stop going home,” said Joshua Gerendash, a senior at the school.
Julio’s upbeat attitude toward his situation and life in general inspired many Yula High pupils.
“I made the most of it,” Julio remarked, alluding to his commute and occasionally missing the bus and having to wait an extra hour. “I used to tell them, ‘When life doesn’t go your way, what do you do? Don’t cry about it. Don’t complain about it. Just be grateful for what you have and move on; nice things will come your way one day.”
Several pupils expressed their gratitude for Julio’s assistance in his spare time. They felt compelled to assist him after realizing that his bus travel was more than four hours per day and that he had little time to spend with his own family. The kids spent their summer vacation quietly fundraising for Mr. Castro, receiving donations from organizations such as Galpin Motors and The Change Reaction, a nonprofit that helps thousands of people in need in the Los Angeles area on a daily basis. Overall, the kids raised more than $30,000 for their beloved teacher.
Julio received a Mazda CX-3 with enough money left enough to cover a year’s worth of car insurance and gas.
One day at school, they surprised him with his new automobile. Julio was both astonished and thankful.
“I’m taken aback. I feel unique. So, thank you to all of my students. “They’re like my kids,” Julio added.
Julio’s new car saves him about three hours per day, which he now spends with his family.
“Now that I have a car, I get to drop off my kids every morning. And then, when I get here with extra time, I can utilize it on my lesson ideas. “Then I’ll be able to make it for supper on my way back,” he explained.
