Mr. Eric Tenorio is a TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment)  at Cypress High School. He is the 11th grade assistant principal working in the main office.

          Tenorio became an administrator because he “just felt like the opportunity to support an entire school,” as opposed to the 190 students that he would regularly have as a teacher. He sees it “as a great opportunity to make an even bigger impact.” 

Before Tenorio became an administrator, he was an English teacher at Anaheim High School. He says that, “I was a program coordinator at Cal State Fullerton for a college access program that worked with AUHSD. Then prior to that I was a college student at Cal State Fullerton, and in between there I got a Master’s at UCR.” (UC Riverside) 

When asked how he has adapted to the switch, he responded, “I would say my position is very different, going from a teacher to assistant principal, although I’d say I’m pretty comfortable here…I love Cypress High School. I really enjoy the diversity and all of the strengths that the different families bring here. I enjoy the staff members, all the people that work here, it’s a very exciting place to be.” 

Some things that Tenorio strives to improve at Cypress are making students really believe in themselves and feeling like they matter, that they have a purpose and a direction. “A lot of times when our students face challenges, sometimes it’s hard to keep on working to overcome that challenge if they don’t feel like they have a purpose and a direction, especially with life after high school.” 

          He believes that the people here at Cypress are very welcoming and that really helped him feel at home in a short amount of time. “The kids, the students are my main focus so if I’m serving students to me it feels like it doesn’t matter where I am, although Cypress, I love being here, but there are similarities in the experience that a student is having in high school that I love supporting them and helping them out with whatever that might be.” 

Tenorio’s advice to students is to “believe in themselves, and when they’re facing challenges there’s always people here to support them and to really use Cypress to make their dreams a reality.”