Mr Torres
This photo essay follows Jack Torres, a third-grade teacher navigating early adulthood in New York City, documenting the profound impact teaching has had on his life.
By Bodhi Kamitses
This photo essay follows Jack Torres, a third-grade teacher navigating early adulthood in New York City, documenting the profound impact teaching has had on his life.
By Bodhi Kamitses
1/16
Jack Torres, 24, adjusts his tie in his Fort Greene apartment before heading to work. Jack has taught third grade at Success Academy Flatbush in Brooklyn, NY, since the start of the school year.
Jack wakes up at 5:15 in order to commute, prepare, and greet his students' arrival at 7:30. On test days, students arriving more than 10 minutes late will not be allowed to take the exam. Poor attendance reflects negatively on Jack’s performance, so he calls some parents to confirm arrival times. He has all of the parents’ numbers: “and Grandma’s number and Grandpa and Cousins—if Mom doesn’t pick up, they know I’m going to call Dad and, you know, Auntie, and then Auntie who’s in Ohio getting woken up at 6 in the morning, and she’s going to be like, Mom, pick up the teacher’s call!”
After studying at Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University, where he graduated in 2024 with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies, Jack spent time working as a chef in New York City. A subsequent stint as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Boston inspired him to pursue education full-time, drawing him back to New York to teach and be closer to his girlfriend.
4/16
Mr. Torres is the sole teacher for his third-grade class of 29 “scholars,” as Success Academy refers to its student body. Throughout the day, scholars may recieve “corrections” for mis-behavior. Upon receiving a correction, the student must stop what they’re doing to flip their card one number higher to reflect their conduct that day. After eight corrections, a white card is displayed, and a conversation with a parent is scheduled.
Mr. Torres is the sole teacher for his third-grade class of 29 “scholars,” as Success Academy refers to its student body. Throughout the day, scholars may recieve “corrections” for mis-behavior. Upon receiving a correction, the student must stop what they’re doing to flip their card one number higher to reflect their conduct that day. After eight corrections, a white card is displayed, and a conversation with a parent is scheduled.
5/16
Scholars move between their desks and marked spots on the rug at the front of the room as Mr. Torres lectures and reads in English class.
Scholars move between their desks and marked spots on the rug at the front of the room as Mr. Torres lectures and reads in English class.
Mr. Torres started an after-school chess club that meets on Thursday afternoons. Students keep track of their moves while learning strategy.
7/16
“You feel sick in the morning, and it's not like, oh, sweet, I can call out. Not only can you not call out, and you might want to, you also sort of know that's where you need to be. I’ve never been late, and I feel like that's part of the reason I’m here on time, it just feels so important that I’m doing at the very least, like, a good effort, and that’s been really different than any other thing I’ve ever done.”
“You feel sick in the morning, and it's not like, oh, sweet, I can call out. Not only can you not call out, and you might want to, you also sort of know that's where you need to be. I’ve never been late, and I feel like that's part of the reason I’m here on time, it just feels so important that I’m doing at the very least, like, a good effort, and that’s been really different than any other thing I’ve ever done.”
Jack gets a drink at a bar near his apartment with his childhood friend Felix and Felix’s girlfriend Madi. Felix and Jack met playing baseball together when they were six.
Jack smokes a cigarette with his girlfriend Siri (right) at a house party on Friday night.
Mr Torres ushers his students to recess.
Students complete timed worksheets at their desks.
Jack spends part of his Sunday prepping for the week ahead. In December, Jack was promoted to Grade Team Lead, managing the two other third-grade teachers at his school.
Jack picks up ingredients to cook dinner on Sunday night with his girlfriend, Siri, at her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
On how he felt at the beginning of the year, Mr. Torres said: “I’d be here from 6:40 to 6:00, eleven and a half-hour days every day. I would get home, and I would be so dead, emotionally exhausted, physically exhausted. It was killing me so much I had to be in bed at 8:30 because I couldn't do it on less than 7 hours of sleep or I'd really, really struggle.”
“These are the people I spend most time with, and they’re children, who rely on me for meals, and advice, and how to do math, and when they’re stressed about whatever’s happening at home, and so its just, like, you just grow a fierce protective love for them.”
“You have that moment when you have a lockdown drill or something, and you just feel very comfortable and very clear in your mind about what you would do for them in that moment, there’s not like a, would I sacrifice myself, you don’t even think about it in those terms, like, you put whatever you can between the dark, scary world and your students in every moment and yeah, in some moments that’s you.”