Daniel Lowe, a Mckinney native has taught all over the United States and has had a knack for educating since tutoring other students in high school.

Lowe was born in Florida and lived in Monterrey, Mexico until first grade. He ended up right back in Mckinney. Although he didn’t spend much time getting an education in Mexico, growing up in that culture influences his teaching.

“If it’s more philosophical or more abstract I will think about it in English,” Lowe said, “But if it’s more familial or dealing with experiences when I grew up I think about that in Spanish.”

   Lowe loves music because of his childhood, being surrounded by cousins and siblings playing instruments. His go to music being Santeria by Sublime, any songs by Weezer, Mana, or Cafe Tacvba. He also enjoys newer artist as well.

   “There are a lot of Kendrick Lamar songs that are amazing musically,” Lowe said.

Lowe himself never was musically apt, but he still attempted the musical process, which fits with his view on students approach to their education.

   “The willingness to say, ‘Let me try this and see what improvement I can make,’ can be very helpful to people,” Lowe said.

Making that connection with his method of comprehension has helped him understand students and the way they think out math problems.

“I’m able to think, how do I think so that I’m able to reach the students and how they may think,” Lowe said.

He’s taught remedial mathematics, ESL (English Second Language) mathematics, college-level curriculum, abstract algebra, discrete mathematics, and advanced calculus; moreover, this year he is teaching geometry and statistics.

He has always taught primarily juniors and seniors and is continuing to do so at Melissa High but he teaches sophomores in geometry. Lowe has been teaching for fourteen years and has taught a wide variety of mathematics curriculum and every year his teaching style changes with his students, every year he wants them to succeed.

“Every few years you see how students are affected by what their environment is,” Lowe said “and you look to see how you can adjust to help meet them where they are,”

A repeat  Japanese karaoke champion and, for a first job out of college, a flight attendant, this World History teacher, Steven De Luna, has been around the world and back before returning to Melissa High School.

De Luna grew up in Plano and as soon as he graduated from Plano East High School he joined the  U.S. Navy and headed to Chicago to train, then to Virginia for six years before he had to make a decision.

“They said hey you can go to Chicago or you can go to Japan.” De Luna said, “um, I’ll take Japan.”

De Luna wanted the opportunity to live on the other side of the world and experience new things. During his time in the navy, he volunteered to coach a soccer team.

“That season coaching is what made me want to become an educator,” said De Luna

After deciding that he wanted to be an educator he was deployed a few more times, relocated to a new place in Japan, got married, and when he got out of the navy he became certified to teach. De Luna then returned to Texas to student teach and help coach our 2017 soccer season for the girl’s team.

“The students were all go-getting and they were playing at a level that I hadn’t coached at yet, it was really eye-opening because I had to step my game up.” De Luna said

His student teaching at MHS prepared him for Japan, again, to teach Special Education for American students on a military base and coach their high school girls soccer team with success.

“We kind of had our own level of state competition I took my girls soccer team to three championships and trained 5 all-state championship goalkeepers.” De Luna, “It’s the equivalent to a 2a Texas state-level competition.”

   De Luna, although he spent ten to twelve years in Japan, doesn’t speak fluid Japanese, around the base it was mostly Americans and the Japanese people wanted to learn English as well. Although his Japanese falls short he does have a penchant for talking, in fact, his self-proclaimed quirk is talking really fast when excited sometimes even having to asked to slow down.

   He developed a creative teaching style based on the resources he was provided in Japan and combining that with the resources he has now he feels he can “get really creative” with lesson plans for World History. To succeed in De Luna’s class is all about putting yourself out there and learning new things.

   “If you don’t try,” De Luna said, “ you’ll never know what you can truly achieve.”

Now back for a second time at Melissa High this time teaching officially De Luna is glad to be back at MHS.

“It feels like, in a way, I never left.”