Spanish Teacher Yoel Castillo Botello joined Deerfield’s faculty three years ago and will leave after this school year. At Deerfield, he taught Spanish 3 Honors, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, Spanish 4, Spanish 5, and Spanish 6 Honors: Latin American Literature.
Dr. Botello joined Deerfield because he loved Deerfield’s “commitment to intellectual pursuit and deep respect for the liberal arts.” He has cherished his time here due to all the students he has met and the community he was a part of, saying, “Once my student, always my student. I really hope that everyone who has been under my wing will know that I will always be there for you.”
Shogo O’Connor ’25, a member of his hall on LM, said, “[Dr. Botello] is a super genuine, down-to-earth guy, always laughing and smiling. He’s very forgiving and all-around a great guy.” O’Connor also mentioned Dr. Botello’s influence on him, saying, “I also know that I can always come home to someone who is very welcoming and someone that I can easily talk to about my problems and about my day… I know that he impacted so many kids.”
Although Dr. Botello’s first year was when COVID started, he enjoyed getting through it and has had “a really big collection of great memories” since. After this year, he will be moving to Grinnell College to be an assistant professor of Spanish.