A portrait of the artist: Pedro Torres aims to share his love of art as an educator

December 15, 2017

Pedro Torres moved from Mexico to Cleveland’s west side with his family in 2001. The youngest of six kids, he always had an artistic bent. “I loved drawing and painting,” he said.

Torres attended Max S. Hayes High School, where his art teacher helped secure a scholarship for him to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art.  That act inspired Torres to become a teacher himself.

The 25-year-old will graduate from Tri-C this month with an Associate of Arts degree and plans to enroll in John Carroll University’s education program in the spring. He hopes to become an art and Spanish teacher in Cleveland’s inner city.

“I’d like to be the type of teacher that inspires students and helps them through life’s inevitable uphill battles,” he said.

Torres applied to Tri-C in 2011 after graduating high school but ultimately chose to join the U.S. Army. His experiences as part of the 173rd Airborne in Italy equipped him with valuable skills and a drive to achieve that led him back to the College four years later.

He credits Tri-C’s abundance of resources and supportive instructors for helping ensure his success over the past two years. He took all of his classes at the Western Campus in Parma.

“Small classes and a real community culture at Tri-C made me the student I am,” Torres said. “Having access to programs like TRIO and Hispanic Council kept me focused, and I was never without a mentor.”

Though Torres has little time to devote to art these days, a sponsorship awarded through Tri-C’s Hispanic Council allowed him to create a piece for the Doors to My Barrio traveling art exhibit this past summer. The project gave local artists the opportunity to show pride in their Hispanic heritage.