Seven years ago, Cesar Plascencia Zuniga was a student at Dos Pueblos High School. Now, he is a teacher at the same school in the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy.
During his time at DPHS, Plascencia Zuniga was part of the DPEA program. He also took AP Computer Science, which he said was really fun.
“I think I was always fascinated by how fast computers can do things, and how efficient they can be,” Plascencia Zuniga explained. “I also played a lot of video games as a high schooler with my friends at DP, so that got me interested.”
After high school, Plascencia Zuniga went on to University of California, Berkeley to receive a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. In his sophomore year, he was selected to be the student instructor of the introductory Computer Science course at the university. He continued to teach as an instructor until graduation, where he received an Outstanding Student Instructor Award for his work.
While he had planned to pursue teaching later in life, Plascencia Zuniga’s immediate plan was to become an engineer.
“I had it in mind to do software engineering after graduating from college,” Plascencia Zuniga said.
However, the global pandemic caused him to reconsider this target.
“My senior year was [when] COVID [started],” Plascencia Zuniga said. “I came back home to Santa Barbara and that really made me rethink what I wanted to do. Being back home and seeing how great it was to be back in Santa Barbara kind of accelerated that trajectory to coming back as a teacher.”
He heard about a Computer Science opening at DPHS and reached out to some teachers for more information.
“That’s how my DPEA teachers found out and told me, ‘Hey, we would love to have you back,’” Plascencia Zuniga said.
He joined the DPEA for an internship and completed additional training through University of California, Santa Barbara’s Teacher Education Program. Then, last year, Plascencia Zuniga became a full time teacher in the DPEA computer lab.
“What that involves is teaching students how to use this 3D modeling software called SolidWorks,” he explained. “It creates 3D versions of the sculptures they make throughout the year. And second to that, I help students learn about programming and how to turn on various lights and motors associated with the process.”
Plascencia Zuniga said that his past experiences as a student at DPHS allow him to see the classroom through a unique perspective.
“One thing that’s pretty awesome for me is being able to show my students my projects that I made in my sophomore and junior years and connecting that to what [students] will make for themselves,” Plascencia Zuniga said.
Outside of the classroom, he shared that he enjoys going to the beach and riding bikes whenever he can. Plascencia Zuniga also expressed his affinity for Disc Golf and video games such as Rocket League.
Plascencia Zuniga said he loves the atmosphere of our school.
“I love … I don’t know how else to explain it, but the DP vibe,” he said. “Everyone is so nice to each other, and it really feels homey over here. The class culture and school spirit is so strong.”
