P.E. Teacher a Favorite Among Students

By Ashley Meeks, Sun-News, Las Cruces

Coach Danny Ortega’s evaluation day was held recently. His 40 physical education students skipped rope and ran relays until they were gasping — their 34-year-old teacher stayed in his seat. But Sunrise Elementary School Principal Brian Peterson, bracing himself against the wind, couldn’t have been more impressed. “I’m sitting here writing how awesome he is,” he said. “This huge group? Jeez ... This is probably one of the hardest days, right before a four-day weekend, but look how well he’s handling it.” And all from a wheelchair.

When Ortega, a Roswell native, was 19, a drunken driver T-boned the car he was a passenger in. His spinal cord was completely severed, leaving him a paraplegic, without sensation from chest-level down. “A lot of people thought I was crazy trying to get a P.E. degree,” he said. But he did it anyway, graduating from Eastern New Mexico University (BS96) and going on to get his master’s of physical education at Arizona State University in Phoenix. He teaches a literacy class in addition to the P.E. He’s even started an administration degree, for the future. Teaching all grades, he said, “I try to get it out in the open right away.” In return, he respects his students for working with his circumstances. “Kids are the most helpful group of people in the world,” he said. “They have to be good listeners. I think it’s beneficial for them to have a teacher in a wheelchair, to get exposure to disabilities. We’re all different in some way.” The way he sees it?

He’s lucky. “Whatever he needs to do, he’s figured out a way to do it,” Peterson said.

His fifth-grade class said everyone loves him. “He’s cool,” said Andres Gonzales, 12, who said he empathizes for his teacher but is also impressed that the disability doesn’t hold him back from a “fight, fight” attitude. Remi Bidwell, 11, agreed with the “cool” verdict. He said Ortega’s taught them jump rope, four-square and basketball like a pro — “even though he’s in a wheelchair.”

“He’s the coolest coach I ever had,” said Annette Runyon, 12. “He’s inspiring to a lot of kids who think they can’t do it ... ‘If I can do it, then you can try at least.’”

Ortega, in his eighth year teaching P.E., says he’s been “totally blessed” and is comfortable acting as inspiration. What happened to me was “pretty severe,” he said. “But I didn’t let it stop me.”