ONCE AN IRISH, ALWAYS AN IRISH! – Mr. Lara

SEATTLE – “To answer the question of what makes this place special, I’ve always felt that it’s you guys, it’s the students,” says Alex Lara, aka Mr. Lara. Lara originally started working at O’Dea during the 2008-2007 school year and he will be finishing up his 15th year this coming June.

Lara attended the University of Washington majoring in Ethnic Studies and then later went to Seattle University to grad school to get his Masters in Teaching. Lara attributes his college learning to “why O’Dea fits him so well.” He mentions that it’s helped him have compassion for his students and develop a level of understanding for those he interacts with.

When it comes to O’Dea, Lara says that he was chosen, he didn’t choose to come to O’Dea. He was one decision away from ending up at Roosevelt High School permanently. During his younger years Lara had a long-term subbing job at Roosevelt High School that soon became short-lived due to some turmoil the school was going through.

Luckily for Lara, had a really good relationship with an old high school friend, Gabriela Botello, who was and still is a Spanish teacher at O’Dea. Miss Botello reached out to Lara letting him know that O’Dea had a job opening and, the next thing he knew he had a job.

“It was never about the money,” Lara says. Something has always pulled him back year after year to O’Dea. He attributes his great O’Dea experience to the students and those who are involved in the O’Dea community. “Kudos to you guys and coach [Kristian] Paterson… for pulling in the right kind of people to this school. Because you guys are the reason why this school is what it is.”

Teaching

During Lara’s early years he taught and subbed at multiple levels of education from elementary all the way through high school. Even at O’Dea, he taught a multitude of subjects. This exposure helped him get a real idea of what he wanted to do in the future.

At O’Dea, Lara bounced between teaching junior and freshman literature. Then later on he moved to Film Appreciation and Photography for upper classman, and then more recently returned back to freshman literature. But, since last year Mr. Lara has moved to teaching Intro to Art for freshman and Studio Art for upper classman as an elective.

When talking about making the teaching transition Mr. Lara mentions, “…It’s cool though because I never really thought I’d be teaching art and you know O’Dea’s got access to the whole Adobe suite… so a couple years ago I started teaching guys Photoshop and Premier Pro.”

Coaching

Lara originally started his coaching career as a baseball coach at Inglemoor High School and also coached summer baseball for about 8 years prior to coaching at O’Dea.

Fortunately for Lara, there was a coaching change happening during his first year at O’Dea. At that time Mike Doyle was also a teacher and coach who was set to be the next head coach. And Lara took it as an opportunity to get on board and become an assistant coach.

Coach Doyle and Coach Lara’s relationship is one like no other. They both started teaching at O’Dea during the same 2007-2008 school year and soon began coaching with each other that spring. Lara and Doyle originally found themselves both going through Arch Diocese classes together and soon became close with one another.

The first season they coached it was just the two of them and they led the Irish to an 11-10 record. Since then, the two have racked up many Metro titles and three State titles.

“There’s an old saying, ‘those who can’t play, coach.’ I can’t play baseball anymore, so the closest thing I get to playing baseball is coaching it. I do it because I love the game.”

Impact

While the O’Dea community, and many students who have come through O’Dea love Mr. Lara, unfortunately this will be his last year at O’Dea. He and his family have made the decision to move up to BELLINGHAM, Washington next year.

Lara has taught at O’Dea for 15 years and coached as many seasons at the varsity baseball level. Lara has forever left his mark on O’Dea and the Fighting Irish community. He has also touched the lives of over 1,500 students during his time here at O’Dea.

On behalf of the many students here at O’Dea I would like to say thank you for being such a great impact on our high school journey.