Mr. Piña is a consistently innovative Career & Technical Education (CTE) instructor at Metzger Middle School.  He teaches Principles of Applied Engineering (HS credit), Fundamentals of Computer Science (HS Credit), College & Career Readiness, Design & Modeling, and Green Architecture. With the guidance of his administration, he helped add App Creators and Automation & Robotics to the list of CTE courses students can take from other teachers who wish to join the Project Lead the Way program. He was also the department chair for his CTE campus for three years.

To this end, Mr. Piña opened the first SkillsUSA chapter at Metzger Middle School in the 2017-2018 school year and with his first group of students, became state champions. He has competed with his students and won at the state level in 2018-2019 and also advanced in 2019-2020 (the state competition was canceled due to Covid). More importantly, in the 2020-2021 school year, he helped launch Project Lead the Way - Gateway to Technology at Metzger Middle School, bringing yet more STEM courses for students. STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators. Mr. Piña’s CTE innovations will ensure he continues to build forward-thinkers by providing students the tools and resources they’ll need to challenge the status quo, push boundaries, and achieve personal and professional growth.

"As a leader, he routinely excels at doing things that have never been done before and like many innovators realize that new ideas and implementation can’t end with them. He enjoys bringing others along for the ride."
- Ms. Loretta Davidson, Principal at Metzger Middle School