“Every day is a gift, and we should use it to the best of our ability.” These are wise words

from perhaps one of the most positive personalities from North Point, Mr. David Braziel. Mr.

Braziel is one of the few teachers at North Point with a permanent NEST duty; he is in charge of

ordering and gathering lunches for students in lunch detention.

Mr. Braziel has been one of North Point’s Automotive Technology teachers for 5 years,

however, before becoming a teacher, Mr. Braziel worked at a Safeway for 39 years. “The first 25

years there were great, but the last 14 or so years were less fun,” Mr. Braziel humorously stated

in an interview. As one of North Point’s Automotive Technology instructors, Mr. Braziel has an

unending interest “in anything dealing with cars.” From repair, to drag racing, to Nascar, and

pretty much everything under the sun, cars are no doubt a life passion for him (fitting,

considering his job title).

However, Mr. Braziel’s primary job is not the only thing he looks forward to in his every

day routine. As an overseer for lunch detention, not only does Mr. Braziel grab lunches for those

who were sentenced to detention, he also has a chance to interact with the students. When asked

whether his assignment to lunch detention was voluntary or obligatory, Mr. Braziel responded by

saying the following, “It was completely voluntary. This [lunch detention] gives me a chance to

interact with those [students] whom I wouldn’t normally have a chance to interact with.” For

someone tasked with “dealing” with disobedient students, Mr. Braziel sees no downside of

spending time with them. He even holds a daily trivia game with Mr. Fred Sanford (also in

charge of overseeing lunch detention) to actively engage himself, Mr. Sanford, and the students

in a positive and interesting learning environment. Mr. Braziel certainly abides by his words,

treating life as a gift, and he makes the most of it on a daily basis by spreading kindness to all of

those whom he has the pleasure of meeting.