Candidate for
Board Member; Sweetwater Union High School District; Seat 4

Jaime Mercado: Autobiography

I was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, my mother's birthplace, and my father was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1955, my family moved to San Ysidro where I attended local schools, including Sunset Elementary, Southwest Junior and Mar Vista High. Upon completing the tenth grade I had to drop out of Mar Vista High School to get a job. After working in several jobs, including washing cars and picking tomatoes, I realized the value of an education. While working full time, I returned to school in the evening at Mar Vista Adult School. Inspired and motivated by a teacher, Mr. Burke Mills, who took an interest in me, I completed the 11th and 12th grades in six months. More importantly, I found a new direction and mission in life, to become a teacher and join Mr. Mills in helping students. I earned an A.A. from Southwestern College, a B.A., an M.A., a teaching credential, and a school administration credential from San Diego State University. In 1986, I had the distinct honor of returning to Mar Vista High School where I had the unique pleasure of working with Mr. Mills and two of my former teachers, as their principal. During the thirty-two years that I worked in the Sweetwater District, I served as a teacher aide, a teacher, an assistant principal, and principal in various schools including Southwest Junior, Southwest High, Montgomery Junior, Mar Vista High, Palomar High, National City Junior, and National City Adult School. I was elected to the Sweetwater School District Board of Trustees in 2004. Anita and I have been married for thirty-seven years and we have two daughters, Marla and Tanya. Marla is a speech pathologist. Tanya is married to Steven Lozano, a San Diego City firefighter. She is a pediatrician and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.