\t\t\t Solano is in his 27th year teaching. He said he entered the profession after being denied entry to public school himself due to a disability.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started to get older, my mom said, \u2018You need to become a teacher, David\u2019 and she\u2019s like, \u2018You have to change the way people were treated at one time, the way you were treated at one time,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Solano said it seems like teaching chose him in a way, with him providing representation for his students.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Hispanic man and all through my school life I only had like four teachers that looked or sounded like me, and I can\u2019t tell a kid to do better if I\u2019m not trying to teach them how to be better and try to be in the front of the room and try to give them an example that, hey, we can lead the classroom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Pay Tribute\u2019 winner unites kids through basketball program<\/p>\n In addition to teaching, Solano runs a nonprofit basketball club after school at a local gym. This year, his team won a district championship.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just ended our ninth season doing this. And we average 85 kids a night. And [that\u2019s] 85 kids in Maryville, when kids don\u2019t get along, from different schools. In our gym, they\u2019re a community. We don\u2019t we don\u2019t create a basketball team, we create a basketball community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Solano said he plans to use some of the prize money to help fund the basketball program over the summer, as well as using some funding to take his kids to Disneyland.<\/p>\n Want to nominate somebody for the Pay Tribute to a Teacher award? Submissions are accepted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.<\/p>\n Follow @@shiratanzernews<\/a><\/p>\n We want to hear from you.<\/p>\n Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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