This week, the Warrior Word sat down with Edwin Bocio, Facility Manager of the school. Get to know him as he shares his hobbies, favorite food and passion for his job.
Tziyona Gheblikian: Where were you born and raised?
Edwin: I was born in the Dominican Republic, and then I came here to the United States when I was five years old. I was raised in the Bronx, New York.
TG: So what made you move to Florida?
E: The cold. We lived there for about fourteen years, and my father suffered from arthritis, so he decided to move down here. I didn’t want to at the moment, you know. I was young, I was sixteen. But once I got here, I fell in love with the weather and said, “I ain’t going back.”
TG: How long have you been working here for?
E: Well this August will be sixteen years.
TG: Wow! What’s made you stay for all this time?
E: I don’t know. I like the ambience, I like the people and the kids. You know, I’m a father of two girls. And, I don’t know, I just like working around a good environment. I like what I do: the building, the setting up stuff. So it’s a good place to work at.
TG: What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
E: Just the day-to-day interacting with the faculty and kids, especially with the ECE kids. You know, they treat me good, they know me. So usually for the kids.
TG: And what would you say is the hardest part of your job?
E: The kids sometimes just mess up the school. This is like a second home to them, and to me, because I’m here almost like eight or nine hours of the day. Sometimes [I’m even here] twelve hours of the day. When you work so hard and then you come back and they tell you, “Look, they destroyed something that you worked so hard on doing,” that’s very disappointing. But besides that, everything’s fine.
TG: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever had to clean?
E: You don’t want to go there, you don’t want to go there. There was a time that there was just fecal matter everywhere. And trust me, it was not nice. I don’t want to go into that any more.
TG: Oh, I can’t even imagine…do you have any hobbies?
E: I like going to football games. I like playing volleyball with my daughters. Oh, and bike riding.
TG: What’s your favorite food?
E: The Dominican rice, beans and steak.
TG: That sounds great! If you could use three words to describe yourself, what would they be?
E: Positive, honest, and friendly.
By Tziyona Gheblikian (11th grade)