So, who is that guy with the big smile who sits in the back room of the attendance office?  Meet Sahuaro’s registrar, Gilbert Ochoa.

Before Mr. Ochoa’s days at Sahuaro, he was in the U.S. Air Force for twenty-two years, where he worked as a leader and mechanic. Just like most people in the military, he started from the very bottom.  However, over time, he was in charge of a maintenance operation. He was also a flying crew chief, lead tech, and section chief. Mr. Ochoa was just twenty years old when he enlisted in the military. “During and even after high school, I had many minimum-wage jobs. I knew I didn’t want to go to college, however, I needed a change,” said Mr. Ochoa. While in the Air Force, he went to roughly 35 countries and 40 states. He said his favorite places he traveled to during his service were Italy, France, and Romania. He has described how he felt about leaving the military, saying, “Yes and no. I miss the friends I made along the way and I miss traveling, but I don’t miss not being with my family. At times, I miss the work. It was tough but fun.”

He explained that he enjoys working at Sahuaro and what he does for the school, interacting with the students and the faculty. Mr. Ochoa revealed that working at Sahuaro was not his first choice, but he was having difficulty finding a civilian job that he liked. He decided to put his degree in business and administration to good use and become a registrar. Some of his passions include helping, engaging, and getting to know the students. He adores his family and friends as well.

As a registrar, Mr. Ochoa said that he has many jobs, such as transcripts (including international transcripts), making sure teachers input grades, ensuring that all students meet graduation requirements (and confirming that the school has every single diploma for every graduating student), managing credit recovery, creating classes before the start of the school year, and helping to transfer information to other schools in a case of moving schools.

Often, people don’t understand the full complexity of what registrars do for schools. Like most educational positions, Mr. Ochoa’s is extremely important and helps keep the school day moving. Next time you happen to be thinking about your grades or even graduation, stop to think about the complexity, time, and effort that Mr. Ochoa is putting into making sure that these things are in perfect order.

Mr. Ochoa advises students to, “Be who you are, be kind to each other. Pursue your passions no matter what they are. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.”