Autobiography

As I grew and my school options changed, I became acutely aware of the disparity within schools. In high school I attended the California Academy of Math and Science (CAMS) and saw what a well-resourced school and hands-on science instruction looked like. I always tell people that getting into high school was harder than getting into college and that my high school experience felt more difficult than my college courses. CAMS has a reputation for being rigorous and for preparing students for your universities including Ivy League schools. I only found out about CAMS through my best friend who had a sibling that went there. To get into the school I had to present a science project to a panel of teachers and staff and my parents were interviewed and I was interviewed before I was allowed to go there. The school bused in students from the poorest districts in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and surrounding cities. Only about 1 to 3 students per middle school are allowed to go to CAMS if they qualify. While I was there I felt lucky that I didn’t have to attend my neighborhood high school and I knew that I was getting a quality education. Eventually this disparity made me feel distant from the kids in the neighborhood who ended up going to Inglewood High School, but also made me feel like I wanted to change those circumstances for my community. It was at CAMS in 10th grade that I decided to become a high school science teacher that would figure out how to resource underfunded science classrooms. It was also in high school when I started organizing and started feeling proud of my identity, it was not through my courses but through college student organizations such as MECHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) who would come to the high school and present on the work they would do. They also took us to UCLA and USC to attend conferences with other high school students that were Latinx.

I went to Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, Alaska for undergrad and then Humboldt State University in Arcata, California for my masters. Having majored in science, I had no social justice focused professors, most were mainstream environmentalists. However, I continued organizing through student organizations and eventually found myself part of the convivial community called “Accion Zapatista” that focused on global social movements and solidarity work in our community. We would organize with other groups such as anti-racist organizations, prison abolition collectives, and immigrant rights groups. In these efforts, I learned how to facilitate and push for policies that make lives better for more people. I tell people that my social justice learning was done through reading groups, party conversations, and road trips with friends and professors in the group who were mostly Ethnic Studies majors.

I decided to get my teaching credential after college and got into a program in San Francisco State University. The credential program I was in was not social justice-based/focused and was just a stepping stone to start my career and get my credential. I did try to continue learning about the intersections of education and justice on my own and so I sought out educators doing this work. Jeff Duncan-Andrade happened to be teaching just a building away from my credential classes and he would allow me to sit in his educational equity classes when I could. I was also still organizing with community groups in the Bay Area and was learning about issues that impacted youth such as gang injunctions and police on campus. Throughout my teacher education program, I continued community organizing because it gave me insights to the needs and assets of the local community in which I would teach.

While in the Bay, I was also working at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. My work was with young people in Oakland, doing science research projects mostly focused on environmental quality issues. It was during this time that I also took a large interest in environmental justice and racism as a lens in my science teaching. When looking for work I try to find schools that would allow me to teach a course related to either social movements or environmental justice. After teaching four years of middle school science at two different schools, one in the Bay and one in Los Angeles, I ended up getting a “dream” job with a very progressive school in Los Angeles that had a full-time environmental science position. The school is called Environmental Charter High School and I am in my sixth year there. It is less than 8 miles from where I grew up and is a school where I could implement my goal of providing high-quality science education to students who had a similar experience I did growing up.

I have been able to continue growing at this school site and become an instructional coach, department lead, grade level lead, and have organized multiple environmentally focused professional development for teachers. Having experience in community building and facilitating in community organizations has helped me as a teacher leader at various school sites. I have used these skills to advocate and create buy in for programming that addresses inequity and more relevant science curriculum.

As I continue my journey as a school leader I hope the help facilitate learning places that build solidarity between staff and students, skill share, and collectively address social justice issues. My identity as a once undocumented immigrant in solidarity with other folks of color and Black folks makes me want to always find ways to make school a place where students feel welcomed, loved, and affirmed. It means providing students with an education that they will proud of and benefit from economically, politically, socio-emotionally and physically. Love is manifested through critical and culturally responsive pedagogy that strives to build connections between students and staff and move them forward in changing oppressive policies and systems in school in in our communities. This will pave the way to creating generations of students who learn facts and skills related to their own histories and identities and through thoughtful facilitation and analysis will find ways to make life more equitable and joyous for future generations.