After history, teacher Mr. Sanchez resigned from Pembroke Pines Charter High School (PPCHS) on December 20th, 2024. This meant he soon had to say his goodbyes to the UTAP class. Sanchez passed this role down to the dedicated history teacher, Mr. Holland, to take over the UTAP club and class. A club dedicated to teaching, tutoring, and helping teachers with presentations in elementary school classes, allowing students interested in education to practice teaching skills.
After Sanchez was the UTAP sponsor for about three to four years, he decided that with his departure, Holland was simply an easy pick. “He was someone who received teacher of the year in 2023, and he is currently the social studies department head,” adding on, “he was the first person in mind.”
More importantly, Sanchez also approached Holland about taking over his position in the program because he knew how passionate Holland was about the purpose of UTAP. He grew to admire the idea of providing students interested in becoming teachers the opportunity to experience what it’s like.
Mr. Holland, the new UTAP sponsor, quickly became passionate about this club. “UTAP is a program that I have loved since its inception. When Mr. Sanchez progressed its implementation here, I was a supporter,” he says. He quickly fell into position and hoped to grow and deepen his new students’ understanding of the career.
With this great new opportunity, he soon grows expectations for himself, the program, and any students interested. Holland grows concerned about the feeling as his leadership contrasts with Sanchez’s way of leadership and teaching. However, with their love for UTAP, Holland strives to offer its students outstanding opportunities.
With the addition of taking over UTAP, Holland also has coverage for its club. He hopes to meet with the board officers for the next couple of weeks to create more exciting plans for everyone who is in the club for the upcoming months.
While coming in as the new sponsor, he states that with this new change, he would like to see “all of my students conducting short lessons for their internship teachers.” With this, he “would afford UTAP students opportunities to apply [their covered] skills and concepts through the semester.”
With this coverage, students will take and need time to adjust to the differences between both of these teachers. Students were hoping that UTAP would remain the same under Holland’s leadership and were a little disheartened that Holland was implementing changes. Regardless of these modifications, Holland expresses that he hopes he can show how much he’s honored for this opportunity.
UTAP is now making changes and is continuing to grow along with Holland. With his expectations and differences, Holland strives to serve as the best idol for his kids. Now, with his new substitution, he hopes to provide a good enough experience for these students, together with Holland, on their journey to becoming good role models for each other and their elementary students.
