Whether yelling through the megaphone to get to class or jumping from classroom to classroom fixing the broken bulletin boards, Jesus Tellechea, famously known as Mr. T, makes a significant difference to Miami Palmetto Senior High and its community. He has been nominated for Assistant Principal of the Year for these reasons.

Tellechea, recognized for his outstanding contributions to digitizing the school, has made MPSH more efficient. Additionally, he creates a welcoming community for all students and faculty, empowering students and shaping their identities. It is clear that Tellechea does not work solely for the title, but follows his passion to better the community and the school.

In 2018, Tellechea covered for the current Assistant Principal from August to December. During his brief time at MPSH, he fell in love with this school. His career began as an elementary school teacher. Tellechea’s immense love for working at a high school took him by surprise. In 2020, that same Assistant Principal had a baby, which opened an opportunity for Tellechea to return to a permanent position. 

Some of his roles as Assistant Principal include activities, athletics, graduation, parking, disciplinary action and most notably, technology. He is responsible for digitizing the school; not only was this crucial after COVID-19, but it has also allowed the school to run more efficiently. Because of him, MPSH was the first in Miami-Dade County to create an online registration. Attendance is now done through a digital QR code; all of MPSH articulation is online. Not only has Tellechea made the benefits to the school, but he has helped other schools implement these innovations to their schools as well. 

“Every time a student would do a subject selection, counselors would have to manually import all of that information one by one, character by character, into the program to register kids. This was a two to three-week process of just manually inputting stuff, which felt kind of pointless,” Tellechea said. “I wrote a program to upload to the registration, to the subject selection program. And since it only takes about 30 minutes to upload versus three weeks, they get to meet with students immediately and start working with them on their schedules for the following year.”

More recently, Tellechea has taught schools such as John A. Ferguson Senior High School how to implement this subject selection program at their school. 

At MPSH, he teaches other teachers and faculty members how to implement and use technology. 

“He brought [technology] to my world,” Media Specialist Steven Batten said.

Furthermore, Tellechea has implemented new equipment and has taught students how to work with the new technology in the theatre program after the big renovation in the auditorium. His involvement with Television Production allows MPSH to show the community what we are capable of and show us at our best.

“He shines in the theatre program. He was a tremendous help with the wires and batteries and lighting,” Parent Teacher Student Association President Elissa Lewis said.

While his biggest contributions are those within the technological field, he also makes a big impact in many other aspects of the school. For Tellechea, there is no job too big or too small. On the first day of school each year, he arrives at 4 a.m. to blow up the large inflatable panther. He comes in his leisure time to work on projects and improve campus. He was at school on a Saturday to build a skateboard rack because students requested it. He installed the new sports medicine floor on his own over the summer. Lastly, he stepped up to chaperone the Envirothon field trip in Miami, Ohio, despite it not being in his job role requirements. 

“Whenever I came to him and said this is what the students want, he never hesitated or said no. What the students want, they get. He’s here from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.. I’ve seen him in basketball shorts pulling out weeds to make sure that the field is neat for students to play on. He has grit,” Alumni and former Student Council President Clayton Detant said. 

Tellechea empowers students to get involved and make a difference. He grew the annual Make-A-Wish Foundation Event at Sports Grill by 100 students. Sports Grill has continued reaching out to him for his connections for the past three years and has said they could not imagine doing the event without him. 

Telleachea defines the spirit of Palmetto Panthers, eating, sleeping and breathing  MPSH. He is very involved in the theatre program and TVP, and he goes to many of the school’s sporting events. 

“He has a huge heart, and he is a kid at heart,” Principal Victoria Dobbs said. “He really cares about the students and gets really involved with following up. He’s an administrator that I can’t see ever leaving the school site to go to the district or to a region office because what he really enjoys about his job is being able to interact with the students and seeing the joy and the accomplishments each year.”

Ultimately, Tellechea stands out for his personable character. He has forged close bonds with students and a welcoming environment. His office is always open for students to ask for help or advice, or simply just engage in a funny conversation and snack on some of the famous Goldfish and animal crackers. 

“Mr. T is simply magnetic. Students flock to him. They are drawn to his kind spirit and they feel the love he holds for everyone. Never have I ever met someone so willing to go out of his way, above and beyond, to help others. Mr. T is an exceptional Assistant Principal and cannot be measured. He shies away from recognition and attention. How awesome is it to celebrate my brother from another mother,” Assistant Principal Dr. Tierney Hunter.

Despite this flattering nomination for Assistant Principal of the Year, Tellechea remains humble and dedicated to his work. 

“The best work you can do is the work that goes unrecognized because it means you were passionate enough to do it without receiving a thank you. That is what I do every single day,” Tellechea said. “I don’t need awards; I don’t need recognition. It’s nice that other people saw [my hard work and accomplishments], but they could have just said ‘Awesome,’ and just kept on going.”