NBHS Dean of Students a Local Success Story
By Kathryn M. Roy | New Britain School District at October 6, 2023 | 8:00 am | Print
New Britain High School Dean of Students Roberto Mercado can truly relate to the students in his charge. After all, Mercado is a New Britain native, who walked the very same halls current New Britain High School students walk. Mercado, a 1998 NBHS graduate, is one of the high school’s many Latino “success stories.”
Mercado kept a busy schedule in high school. Taking college-bound level one courses, he participated in football for one year, basketball for two years, and baseball for all four years.
Recruited to play baseball at UConn-Avery Point, Mercado spent two years there before transferring to Fitchburg State University.
He said New Britain High School helped prepare him for the college experience.
“If you walk around New Britain High School, we were, and still are, extremely diverse,” he said. “Attending New Britain High School prepared me to see and deal with many different types of people. The teachers prepared me to be successful and pushed me to be the best student I could be.”
Mercado received his degree in Human Services, and came back to New Britain in the fall of 2004. He became a permanent substitute teacher at Louis P. Slade Middle School and assistant freshman baseball coach at NBHS. He was also the head coach of the summer JC Courant senior baseball team and fall Legion baseball team from 2005 to 2010.
Currently a member of the board for Pathways Senderos pregnancy prevention outreach program and the New Britain Parks and Recreation Commission, Mercado became the NBHS varsity baseball coach in 2011. He has been a “Gold House” dean at NBHS since 2004-2005.
He said it’s easy for students to relate to him.
“When they find out I attended New Britain High School and was born and raised here, they have an automatic connection with me,” he said.
He said his job entails much more than just giving consequences to students.
“As a dean, I build relationships with students to make sure they have another person they can go to if they are having issues,” he said. “Being a dean means being a social worker, counselor, father figure and disciplinarian.”
And Mercado said he knows he has an impact on students’ lives.
“The best part of my job is when I see students walk across that stage during graduation,” he said. “It’s a great feeling when students come back and thank me for helping them graduate high school. Changing someone’s life for the better is the most rewarding this for me.”
(The New Britain City Journal will publish an occasional series on Latino success stories from New Britain High School.)
