Currently I am an assistant principal at Mountain View High School in Orem, Utah. This however was not where my love of education began.
When I was eight years old my mother, a sixth grade teacher in an inner Salt Lake City School, took me to work with her. She left the room at one point and as I sat at her desk a tough sixth grader shouted from the back of the room: "You look just like your mom!" The rest of the kids snickered and I sat up in a moment of pure pride: I am my mother's oldest child, she was a single mother doing her best to give us all we needed and wanted. I could not have received a nicer compliment and in my mind I thought: "Yes, I am like my mom." And my passion for education began.
My years in schooling were challenging at best. I was raised in a bilingual home in a time and age where speaking Spanish was considered a deficit. I was pulled from general instruction and placed in resources classes. Over the years this made me get behind and only reinforced to my teachers that my home language was a barrier. I never felt like I had any control in my education. It felt like it was a spiral from 7th-10th grade where I lost almost all self-confidence and connection to learning. Gratefully I had an incredible peer group that pulled me to school every day, who were also multi-lingual students, and who aspired to rise. Those peers took me along and helped me muddle through. I also had glimmers of light from teachers like: Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Williams, Ms. Pierce, Ms. Snyder, Mrs. Brown, and others who saw my potential and shared their light with me until I could see my own.
In 11th grade I had a career and college counselor who took me under her wings and as she told me that I could go to college and that I could get scholarships, my hope was renewed and light helped me see a path. I worked hard my last two years in high school and I achieved a 4.0 my last term of high school. It was a personal goal that had taken me 12 years to accomplish.
College was not easy and it took much longer than most, however I had valuable learning experiences that shaped me into the adult I am today. As I worked myself through college and university courses I worked as a substitute teacher from the same school I graduated from. In 2000 I began to work as a student advocate at the junior high where I had struggled. I graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in Secondary Education: with an emphasis in Spanish teaching and TESOL. I was hired as a Spanish teaching intern the year before I graduated and after walking I was offered a full time position.
In 2011, I graduated with a M.Ed. from Brigham Young University in Educational Leadership. I was hired as an assistant principal in 2012.
Between 2009-2013 the biggest blessings in my life occurred. I met my husband, got married and had two beautiful little girls. They are also a part of my story and now they add a different perspective to my passion for education. One day, I will complete my doctorate for them. I want my daughters and future generations to know that our perceived deficits can be our greatest strengths and we can rise to the highest levels of education.
This is my story... and it is only the beginning.