Going into school for the first time felt like entering a new world. I could barely speak English, I was unaware that I needed glasses and I was struggling to understand my teacher. I felt like the world was completely against me. My teacher was one of the nicest people that I have ever met. She was kind and patient with me. Thanks to Mrs. Belle, I fell in love with education. Since my home life was not the best, I found comfort in school. I looked forward to going there and hated leaving. I am grateful for all the kind and patient teachers that I had throughout my elementary through high school years. My teachers are my reason for wanting to become an educator. I am pursing a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with Bilingual Authorization starting this spring. I want students to know that I have been in there shoes before. Especially my students who are first generation. Nothing used to hurt my heart more than having to translate for my parents during parent teacher conferences because they were unable to communicate with my teachers. As someone who is first generation, I want to make the lives of the next generation a little easier. Having a teacher that speaks the same language as your parents is a true blessing. No information gets lost when communicating and the parents are truly able to understand what is happening. My kindergarten teacher is my inspiration for being a teacher. My second grade teacher is the reason why I want to be Bilingual certified. My seventh grade teacher is the inspiration for my mathematics concentration. Without them, I would not be the students that I am now. They helped me understand concepts that I was not grasping. My second grade teacher was able to communicate with my parents in Spanish and it made my little seven year old heart happy. I work at a tutoring center right now and some of the parents find joy when they realize that I speak Spanish. As they do not have to struggle communicating with the owner in English. Being able to speak two languages is a blessing, being a child's safe place is another. I want my students to always feel safe in the environment that they are in. At the tutoring center, I am not the only tutor. However, I am the tutor that the majority of the kids come to because they find comfort in my form of teaching. I want to continue that in my career as a teacher.

I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I couldn't find peace in my own home because there was always an argument growing up. I felt like myself during two times, when I was selling candy or when I was in school. I tried to be as involved as I could when I was younger because it was my escape from reality. The school was my safe place. I had many teachers that I felt comfortable with and looking back I probably made their lives difficult with all my family issues. But they never hesitated to help me. When I was in sixth grade, there was a camping field trip. Which my father did not allow me to go to because he did not want me to stay the night somewhere else. It was an educational experience that my dad took away from me. But when I was asked why I could attend, I simply told them that I could not afford it. My teacher gave me some luggage so I could pack the items that I needed for the trip. Between the three sixth-grade teachers, they were willing to pay for my trip. All the teachers knew my passion and dedication to school. Mrs. Bolden, my sixth-grade teacher, told my mom that I was a smart kid and it was a shame I was not being allowed to go because of money issues. She saw my potential when I was just eleven years old. Just because I loved school didn't mean I wanted to be a teacher. My father was studying to become a teacher in Mexico but it didn't happen. For a while, I thought I was only studying education for him. But that is not true at all, I am studying education for me. For the children who are just like me that need an escape from reality. They need an adult who they can trust will help them during their times of need both in and out of the classroom. Being a Liberal Studies major has helped me grow in so many ways. Each day, I realize how close I am to completing the dream that I had when I was five. I believe I have the brains to major in whatever I set my mind to. But, my heart is set on teaching. I love working with kids and creating relationships with both them and their parents. I was young when I discovered what I wanted to do in life. But not once did I change my mind because teaching is my calling.

As a member of the Latino-American community, I learned to grow up faster than my peers. At the young age of five, I translated for my parents during parent-teacher conferences, grocery stores, and more. I grew up feeling like an adult because I didn't get to experience being a kid. I never really had teachers who spoke Spanish; I can count them on one hand. I am truly grateful that my parents raised me in their native language. I grew up not being allowed to speak English at home since my parents could not understand. This helped me a lot growing up and it still helps me to this day. My goal as a member of the Latino-American community is to help children of Latino families, feel like kids. I am entering the credential program soon. In this program, I will also be taking a class or two in Spanish to get my Bilingual Authorization. This will open the door to many more opportunities. As someone currently working with children, I have used my native tongue on multiple occasions. I am blessed to know two languages and that is something I do not take for granted. I used my native language to communicate with parents and children when explaining what the child was struggling with. I can help students understand the information in a language other than English. My experience as a Mexican-American has been a big push for me to major in education. I want the future generation to know that it is okay to struggle. I want them to be able to connect to their educator. I will use my experience to make sure that my students do not struggle the same way that I did from explaining things in Spanish to them during school hours, to them not having to translate for their parents. Translating as a child causes a lot of information to get lost. A child is not always able to say what the teacher explains. I will educate future generations to love their language and their culture. Being away from your home country or your parent's home country does not mean you can not relate to those struggles. Being a first-gen or any generation at all, can come with a lot of pressure. As a future teacher who has been in that position before, I just want to make the educational journey better for my students and their parents. I want to be the teacher that I never had growing up.