This weekend in Wichita Kansas Riley Jaramillo will be wrestling for a shot to win the national championship at 184 pounds. He has been ranked number one in the country for the entire season and he is dead set on proving it this weekend. Jaramillo has had to face the challenges of the corona virus and because of that he has wrestled just twice this season. Even with these facts do not be surprised when he is picked the favorite to win the tournament. What some people might not know is that Jaramillo has been student teaching since the start of the new year at a local high school. While Riley has been sitting in on classes, learning from experienced teachers, and at times even leading class segments, he has learned things that are not only helpful in the classroom but also on the wrestling mat. With these lessons he has been able to not only balance these two time consuming lines of business, but to excel at them both. Jaramillo has learned many lessons from not only wrestling but also as a student teacher. 

He said that one of his bigger lessons have been “learning to communicate with not only teachers and coaches but especially with younger people… finding ways to be able to talk to them so they open up to me is definitely helpful.” He did not always have plans on being a teacher and up until his junior year he was a math major but did not know how he would use it after college, but he knew he loved helping others. This change of heart lead him to adjust his major and work on becoming a high school teacher. 

“I think right now I would love to teach and coach… it would be a good opportunity,” is what  Jaramillo said when asked about being a teacher coach. He loves the idea of doing them both but is not sure if doing them at the same time is exactly what he wants. While he is unsure whether he will coach as a teacher, Jaramillo does know that he wants to instill applying full effort and having a never quit attitude on the younger generations. 

“Definitely just positive reinforcement… whenever I have gotten coached it has always been, I believe in you and if you go out there and do your best, then what’s the worst that could happen?” Jaramillo believes that if people use that attitude in everything like school work and tests that is all you can do within your control. However this is not Jaramillo’s last ride, he plans on graduating this May and will wrestle next spring as a graduate. Once he has completed his last season here at Saint Mary Riley plans to try and find a job teaching high school math.

When asked about where he wanted to work Jaramillo said “preferably back home in Oregon” his back up being “anywhere on the west coast.” So for now this will not be the last we see of Riley Jaramillo on the mat for the Spires, but we are in a way indebted to Riley and people out there like him who want to help others and create a better society through educating the future.

Tommy Quinn is a senior studying Digital Communication at the University of Saint Mary. He is an editor for the Spire Times and is also the president of the JCOM Club.