About Me

Hello and Welcome to Ms. Vasquez’s English class! I thought I would start off by telling you a bit about myself.  

My dad was born in Yahualica, Mexico, but spent many of his young years singing for money on the buses of Guadalajara, Mexico.  Desperately poor, he decided to cross the border to the United States.  At 18 years old, hoping to make a better life for himself and his future children, he illegally crossed the border to the United States. Once here, he worked at many campos, making his way up California’s central valley belt from Bakersfield to Stockton.  My mom was also born in Mexico, but she spent most of her early life in Texas.  She is what I like to say, Texican.  She came to Stockton, California, hoping to make a better life.  My parents met, and I was born and raised in the Stockton-Manteca-Lathrop area of the central valley.  I am the middle child of six total children.  

My path from high school to my degree was not the typical path.  In fact, after high school, I couldn’t quite get a handle on what I wanted to receive from my college education, changing my major repeatedly at two different universities. Finally, recognizing that I was spending a lot of money trying to figure out my path,  I made the solid decision to drop out of the university system and enroll in my local community college, San Joaquin Delta College. Community college rocks! :) At Delta, I was able to find my path, and I eventually transferred to California State University, Stanislaus.  I graduated with my BA degree in English from Stanislaus in 2007. I became deeply committed to helping non-traditional students like myself, so I enrolled in the master’s in English program at Stanislaus and completed my degree in the more traditional 2 years. In total, it took me 10 years from high school to my MA degree; this is why I deeply believe that everyone’s educational journey is unique! I have lived that experience!

When I look back, I consider the ten years of my higher education to be some of the most personally enriching years of my life.  During that time, besides going to school, I was raising my son and working many jobs.  And like some of you, my educational path came with a lot of sweat, tears, but mostly gritty determination.   It was so hard sometimes that towards the end of my college journey, I began to live with the mantra “I’ll sleep when I die.”  But through all of those struggles, I began to figure out who I was and what I was capable of doing. And always there with me, I knew that my education would eventually enable me to take care of my family in a way that I would not have been able to with just a high school diploma.  So I never stopped fighting for my education.

I take my understanding of how education was mine any my family's survival with me into my classes.  As a teacher, I work hard to support all of my students as they are fighting for their own education. My student’s success is my success, that is truly the lens I have as your teacher! But I can’t do it all alone, and my deepest hope is that you will work hard to meet me halfway. Working together, I believe you will be successful in building the reading, writing, and researching foundation that will help you succeed, not only in my class, but along the whole of your academic journey. 

I am excited to get to know you and work with you this semester!

Warmly,

Ms. Vasquez