Desert Vista is known as one of the top high schools in the state of Arizona. Packed with great teachers, it is hard for one to consistently gain praise as a favorite. This doesn’t apply to the intriguing Spanish teacher Mr. Jeff Hiller.

“I was born in Bremerhaven, Germany, while my parents were stationed at a US Army Base,” Hiller said.

As mentioned above, Hiller is quite compelling. A few months after being born in Germany, Hiller and his family packed up and moved back to America. Hiller was raised in Tucson, Arizona and described himself as an active child.

“As a kid I swam, rode my bike, and played in the desert with my friends,” Hiller said, “I had a tendency to start fires, but let’s not talk about that.”

Hiller was not only outgoing, he was a standout scholar. He claimed he was strong in art, math, science, and languages. This clearly showed when Hiller graduated number two out of 550 students from Sahuaro High School. He continued his academic career at the University of Arizona and graduated with degrees in both math and Spanish.

“I had a great Spanish teacher, Mr. Lopez, in high school who made Spanish a very fun class,” said Hiller in response to who inspired him to be a teacher.

Hiller loves his job at Desert Vista, and plans on working at the school until he retires because of his great students and co-workers. Hiller went on to say that contrary to popular belief, teaching is much more exciting that you may think. The only negative mentioned by Hiller was that grading papers can be time consuming; but that doesn’t seem to bother him too much considering he’s been teaching for 21 years.

“Outside of school, I love to swim, hike, go to movies, hang out with friends, and travel,” Hiller said about his hobbies away from work.

Hiller may be described as a true explorer, as he has travelled to over 30 different countries! He has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Madrid, Spain. Hiller is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and is a beginning French and Italian speaker. Hiller’s sense of adventure is always on display, and can be seen in his Spring Break photos (he vacationed in New York and Cuba).

Hiller went on to advise that students should pursue their interests, and find a balance between working hard in school/work and the rest of their life. He then suggested that students travel the world, meet new people, and gain a greater perspective on life.