This week, the Warrior Word sat down with Mr. Lopez, a new member of the IT department at the school. Get to know him as he tells us about his life in Miami.
Eliora Gdanski: Hi! Where are you from?
Raphael Lopez: I'm from Puerto Rico. I was born in San Juan but I was raised in Trujillo Alto.
EG: When did you move to Florida?
RL: I think it was either 2015 or 2016
EG: What did you do starting out in Florida?
RL: We moved in with my uncle, and my brother and I focused on finishing middle school and high school.
EG: Do you like living here better than in Puerto Rico?
RL: Both have their pros and cons, but I’ve always been a person who wanted to explore and know other things.
EG: What are some of your hobbies and interests?
RL: I play a lot of video games, and I used to play a lot of card games and board games but with the pandemic, I moved a lot of that online.
EG: Are you close to your family?
RL: Our family is very close and we’ve always done holidays together. Even when we lived in Puerto Rico and our family was in Florida, we managed to spend holidays with them. A part of the reason we moved here instead of anywhere else in the United States was that our family was here.
EG: What do you want to continue doing in the future?
RL: I don’t really know what I want to do in the future, for now, I am focusing on finishing college.
EG: Where do you attend college?
RL: I attend FIU and once I finish that I’ll figure out what I want.
EG: What are you majoring in?
RL: I am majoring in Computer Engineering.
EG: How old are you, and how long ago did you finish high school?
RL: I am 21 years old and I finished high school at 17.
EG: Why did you come to Hebrew Academy?
RL: My mom always said great things about this place.
EG: What do you think about working at Hebrew Academy?
RL: I really enjoy working here, and I like the faculty and all. They are very nice.
By: Eliora Gdanski (9th) and Talia Herssein (9th)