Robert Watson - Dean of Students

I will begin by saying that I am truly grateful for having been welcomed into the Tesla community. It has been a very interesting path getting here. I grew up between Denver, Colorado Springs and Silver City New Mexico so I have some pretty deep roots in the community. I graduated from Air Academy High School and Pikes Peak Community College in 1985 with the intent to be an Automotive Technician. I followed that path for a year or so and then decided to move on to college. I found my second career at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where I studied to be an Archaeologist. I pursued a career in Contract Archaeology for the next 15 years until something told me it was time for a change. At that point I worked as a Chef and started a Landscaping business while I worked on my first master’s degree in Elementary Education at Western New Mexico University. Upon completion of this degree, I closed the Landscaping business and stepped out of the kitchen.

I began as a long-term sub in the elementary world as a 3rd grade teacher and then got a permanent job as a 4th and then a 1st grade teacher at Chaparral Elementary School in Deming New Mexico. I stayed there for three years until I met my family, and they forced me to move to Albuquerque where I taught at Hawthorne Elementary School for a couple of years. Then finally back to Colorado Springs where I grew up. It truly was a full circle because I have been serving this neighborhood for most of my working life. I began as a gas jockey and light mechanic right down the road at what used to be the North Circle Standard Service Station, then on to Audubon Elementary School for 20 years, and finally to Tesla Educational Opportunity School where I met all of you fine people. It is a good place to finish up a career.

Rob Watson, Dean of Students, Tesla Educational Opportunity School