“It is far easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men.”- Fredrick Douglas. 

Mr. Alejandro Ruiz is a special-needs teacher at Springlake-Earth ISD. He is the father of two girls, Hope and Tabitha Ruiz, and married to Dalia Ruiz. Mr. Ruiz has been teaching for over 15 years, but this is his first year at SE. He has also been a pastor for a little over 35 years. 

Mr. Ruiz first started teaching because of his daughter Tabitha. She has a couple of disabilities that have inspired him to help others. 

“I have a daughter that’s disabled, she is intellectually disabled and autistic,” Ruiz said. “When I changed careers from being a pastor to a teacher, I went into special education.” 

 Mr. Ruiz is still currently a pastor at the Muleshoe Church. Although he is a full time teacher also, he still gets to do the two things he loves the most.  

“This is my 19th year as an educator, and my 37th year as a pastor,” Mr. Ruiz said. “So, I have had two jobs for a little of 19 years, but I love and I enjoy it.” 

He gets to not only teach and minister at the same time, but he gets to be close to home. Mr. Ruiz’s favorite thing about teaching are his students and getting to know them and their personalities. 

“I love interacting with them, I like to give them a hard time,” Mr. Ruiz said. “You know just to see them grow, see them be able to get out of their fears.” 

Mr. Ruiz has multiple hobbies outside of his teacher work life, and although he thinks they are a bit odd for a grown men, he loves to spend his free time sewing and a few other things.

“My hobbies are a little crazy, crazy for a man, I think,” Mr. Ruiz said. “I like to make quilts. My daughters still have quilts from when they were six and nine years old. Now they are 33 and 36,”

Mr. Ruiz believes that his hobbies help him relax when he has nothing else to do, crocheting keeps him busy. He also loves to bake. 

“I like to crochet It helps me chill on a cold day when I can just stay home; I will sit down and just crochet,” Mr. Ruiz said. “I love to bake. I can make wedding cakes and Quinceanera cakes. It is fun, I love to do that.” 

Besides teaching and his hobbies outside of teaching, the thing he loves to do the most is to minister at his church. 

“I love to be able to teach, to bring the word, and see people’s lives change,” Ruiz said.