Newly hired P.E. teacher Fernando Fernandez, who also coaches cross country, slides students back into a regular exercise routine while encouraging them to compete on sports teams. 

“What I’m hoping is to get as many kids here at DPMHS that are interested in sports to actually get cleared to be able to compete and be able to go and do the tryouts and actually get into a team at Birmingham Community Charter High School (BCCHS),” Fernandez said. 

Fernandez hopes to introduce new sports to his students and make use of the space available on campus. He aims to instill an actual P.E. experience for the students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) after the previous teacher’s retirement in February 2023 left the position open. The plan is for students to play games that take up little space like croquet, pickleball and volleyball. 

“Even though there’s not a big area but just like anything else, we adapt to the space, the location that we have,” said Fernandez, who has been teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. “The good thing about DPMHS is that the classes here are not big. I have about 15-30 students (each class). There is enough space for me to create and give them physical education class.”

Fernandez previously taught at Olive Vista Middle School for nine years while coaching for Sylmar High School. He taught and coached for 13 years at Reseda High School and four years at Van Nuys High School. After a year of working at San Fernando High School, he now teaches at DPMHS and coaches cross country at BCCHS.

“There are six kids here from DPMHS who are doing cross country, which is great,” Fernandez said. “I interact with them at all times but there are 42 others that are at Birmingham that I only see during cross country, so it’s kind of weird for me not to be able to interact with them.” 

The history between Fernandez and running goes back to his years competing with his championship-winning high school cross country team. He continued running during his time at California State University, Northridge, which allowed him to travel to states such as Pennsylvania and New York.

“It gave me an opportunity to go everywhere,” Fernandez said. “Everything was paid for and all I had to do was run.”

Fernandez has scheduled a routine for his students to acclimate them to doing physical activities. The routine includes cardio once to twice a week, sports like volleyball and workouts in the school’s MPR on hot days. There are different focuses each day, with exercise focused on stamina, upper body, lower body and abdomen. 

“For the most part and even though we might not see, there are some who benefit from what I’m doing,” Fernandez said. “I’ve had students who have come to me years after they’ve graduated and thanked me for what I’ve done for them, so that’s something that kind of keeps me going. Not necessarily the only thing but it’s nice to get recognized once in a while.”