He stands before his class as they chat away in groups of three and four.
This is Personal Development 40, a class that is anything but ordinary, but it makes sense since the instructor, Paul Anthony Quintero, is not your ordinary instructor.
Quintero is the last of six siblings and was the student body president of Cantwell High School in Montebello, Calif., an all-boys school at the time.
He was also the only president in history of the school at that time not to graduate with the rest of his senior class. Instead, he went to summer school to finish the classes that he was missing.
“It was the best of times and it was the worse of times,” Quintero said.
He understood that there was no excuse not to graduate on time. He compared himself to his older siblings who were able to work and still graduate accordingly.
Quintero had a different approach to college. He attended California State University, Los Angeles for three years. During his time there he made the dean’s list and realized that he was capable of more.
It was at this time in his life that he made a decision. He was undecided of his major but wanted something broad so he selected business.
“I thought to myself, ‘what’s the best business school there is? USC’,” Quintero said.
After a few forms he was able to transfer to the University of Southern California to gain his bachelor’s degree in business administration. Years later he went back to school for his masters in counseling at Point Loma Nazarene University.
As he gazes at his two degrees that hang in his office he humbles himself.
“It wasn’t me alone,” Quintero said.
He credits his parents, who he was living with at the time, and his family, as well as his mentors, as if their names where on the diploma next to his.
Quintero is currently a PD40 instructor and also a counselor at Pierce College.
Joseph Roberson, another PD40 instructor and counselor at Pierce, has been working with Quintero for over a year.
“I consider him (Quintero) to be my brother…we don’t agree on everything, but there’s mutual respect that’s present and evident,” Roberson said.
Roberson and Quintero have had their share of disagreements, but like all brothers have found common ground over food.
“The man knows good pizza,” Roberson said.
Ana Rose, a third year student at Pierce and majoring in sociology, is currently in Quintero’s PD40 class.
Over the course of the semester she has prepared her education plan, learned about efficient note taking techniques, all while learning to work with others.
“I wish I would have taken (PD40) earlier…I would have gotten a better understanding (of things),” Rose said.
Shelby Lynn Goldberg, a Pierce student who’s major is undecided, took PD40 in the spring of 2010 and also found the class helpful.
“I have most definitely applied all of what I learned (in PD40) to my everyday life,” Goldberg said.
However Quintero is not the only one teaching, he has learn from his students to be hungry, to want more from life.
Quintero strives to one day show his own children to be good people who have integrity.
There are two painting that decorate the otherwise white walls of Quintero’s office.
One reminds him of a trip to Spain over the summer where he experienced the running of the bulls, and the other is a painting by Simon Silva entitled Amor A Todas Horas, which translates into love at all hours.
The painting has many interpretations; Quintero believes that the painting is that of a woman away from her husband. It is a constant reminder of home and no matter what happens family will always be there.
In the same manner he reminds his students that each semester will be a rollercoaster, there will be ups and downs, but at the end it is all worth it.
He sums up this idea in a single phrase “life is lifeing.”
