New CCS teacher shares perspective of creative positivity

Chase County Schools welcomes Lexter Solamillo to the community and to CCS as a new high school English teacher for grades 9-12. Solamillo comes to our community from Zamboanga City in the Philippines where he was born, raised and educated.
Following graduation from Valencia National High School in 2002, Solamillo attended Pilar College of Zamboanga City, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education majoring in English in 2007, followed by a Master of Arts in English from Ateneo de Zamboanga University.
He applied his educational prowess in a variety of positions over the years with his first position beginning as a college instructor in Zamboanga City—a city with a population of nearly one million people. He enjoys being involved with students’ endeavors to be well-rounded adults and becoming successful in the world around them. His positions have also included Head of Student Affairs, Debate Club Advisor, Student Government Moderator, adviser for the school paper and volleyball coach, just to name a few “hats” in a long list.
“When I first attended college, I intended to major in mass communication in broadcasting with the goal of becoming a news anchor,” Solamillo said.
He said he had a good friend who was enrolling in teacher education, so he went with him and ended up enrolling himself.
“As time went by, I learned to love the course and decided to pursue a degree in education,” he continued.
He never thought he would excel in the education field, but he continued on, he added. As soon as he graduated from Pilar College, they offered him a teaching position.
“From then on, I never had time to rest from working as a teacher. Now, I am on my 17th year as a teacher, and I am completely loving my career,” he asserted.
Solamillo said his ultimate goal as an educator is not to receive accolades for his teaching ability, but to see the lives of his students show a positive change so they, too, realize they can create a change in their family’s lives, their society and the world as a whole.
“As a teacher, I always believed that the best strategy is to help my students learn from not just what I am teaching, but from what I am doing inside the classroom. I always try to stay consistent with the way I teach, being compassionate in the way I treat my students—remaining relatable with the way I deal with everyone, may it be an administrator, co-worker or student. I have used this strategy since the first day in a classroom setting, and I still use it today,” said Solamillo.
He explained that as an educator, his main goal is to see his students succeed in their respective endeavors so that if he bumps into them at any point in the future, they might say, “Thank you, Sir Lexter. You were one of my inspirations and reasons I pursued and succeeded in life.”
“That alone would be more than enough to complete me as a teacher and a person,” he said.
On a personal note
Solamillo brings with him a diverse range of interests and abilities. He stated he is a lindquist enthusiast. He currently speaks three languages—English, his national language of Filipino and his mother’s tongue of Chavacano, which is a Spanish Creole dialect.
He enjoys script writing for programs and hosting or organizing various types of events. He also likes watching movies, hanging out with friends, singing, dancing, playing volleyball and actively being involved in church activities, he said.
Moving from another country, culture and urbanite locality in a population of almost a million people, known for being the commercial and industrial center of that region, and coming to another country and making a home in a small, rural farming community in Nebraska had to be a monumental change.
Solamillo shared a statement supporting his decision to make such a move.
“Although I was born, raised and lived in a big city in the whole Western Mindanao, one of the major islands in the Philippines, there was always a drive that pushed me to find a place where I could find peace, quietness and a bustle-free place where I could live. Nebraska was such an unknown place in my mind. I did not know anything about it,” he said.
“I had never expected to come and work in the state of Nebraska because all I knew about were those popular states that are visited by many tourists. I personally researched Nebraska and the town of Imperial. Lo and behold, I was placed, by God’s grace, to a place where my vision has come into reality—to live and work in a peaceful, quiet, away-from-hassles town of Imperial in Nebraska,” he added.