Farewells are hard but opportunities need to be taken, beloved teacher Ariel Famaligi left campus April 7, after he was offered the football head coach position at Montwood High School.

“To be honest, he helped me more than I helped him. He’s a great hardworking coach. We’re really happy for him,” head football coach Jesse Perales said.

The campus is also missing an English III teacher, the position is filled by  substitute Ronne Uloa until the end of year.

“I am very happy for him because he is accomplishing one of his big dreams, but also sad because we’re losing a great English teacher,” English department chair Barbara Gracia-Vasquez said.

Famaligi was part of the campus for 10 years as an English teacher and offensive football coordinator.

“He took our offense to new levels and he’s a great offensive line coach, the best there is in my eyes,”  Coach Perales said.

The change affects English students academically because of the switch from a teacher to a substitute.

“We missed some of the subjects that we needed to cover and we fell behind compared to the other English classes,” junior Jonathan Betancourt said.

Students and football players alike Coach Famaligi well.

“I wish him his best. He helped me so much all these years and I hope he becomes very successful as a Head Coach but not against us,” senior football player Israel Hernandez said.