I’m a proud Chicana from Escondido, California, with a profound respect for where I come from. My Mexican immigrant parents did their best with the tools they had available to them. While they navigated life in the US, they were hindered from being fully present at home. Struggling with low-income status, limited access to affordable childcare, and long working hours meant that my home life was not always a supportive environment for my academic progress. I was raised on the philosophy of collectivism, putting the needs of the household unit above all else. This mindset developed into a core emphasis on community, feeling responsible for the well-being of my siblings, and a desire to help my family. It was my time at school that I found purpose, direction, and learned to flourish in an academically encouraging environment. My teachers have been supportive advocates, encouraging my education and personal passions at every point. It’s because of their dedication to teaching and belief in my potential that I was inspired to pursue a career as an educator. They served as the guidance I needed in the formative years of my development and reflected the type of role model I wanted to embody for the children who may not have consistent support at home. Through their kindness, I learned that the smallest acts of encouragement can make a life-changing difference in students' hearts and minds, bolstering their belief in their own capabilities. When I began kindergarten, I only spoke Spanish. My linguistic foundation made the transition into the school system difficult. But the dual immersion program I attended created the environment I needed to transition smoothly and prosper in my bilingual education. Dual immersion schooling was a formative experience for me and helped incorporate, rather than overshadow, my native language into my education. My kindergarten teacher, Ms. Sanchez, created a classroom culture to help support English language learners. By increasing group reading time and encouraging reading bilingual books aloud with English-speaking peers, my confidence and social rapport grew exponentially. My love for reading blossomed, allowing me to connect with my classmates through discussing the books we read together, all while simultaneously helping me learn English. Through my experience in the dual immersion program, it solidified my belief that being bilingual is a skill that should be cultivated, a strength that represents one’s heritage, and acts as a unification of cultures. My goal as a future educator is to teach in public elementary schools with a strong foundation in bilingual education, literacy promotion, and equitable practices to better serve San Diego’s multicultural communities. After my involvement in structured coursework, educational leadership, and community service, my next step is to seek higher education in this field. The Education Studies Department at UCSD has already offered me transformative knowledge, classroom experience, and academic opportunities through the Multiple Subjects Minor. I wish to continue my professional growth within the EDS program through the Master’s of Education and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. I want to facilitate inclusivity through bilingual education by pursuing my BILA authorization. I hope to work with English Language Learners, to be an educator that encourages students to take pride in their multilinguistic backgrounds and help them with overcoming language barriers at school. The support of mentors and their belief in my potential, fortified me with the confidence to progress forward in my career with a passionate dedication. I wish to embody this ideology moving forward to ignite curiosity, creativity, and passion in the next generation of students.

I created a classroom community plan called Familias, a collection of small groups, where students are encouraged to assume interpersonal responsibility for the peers in their collaborative unit to help promote the development of their shared learning. I want to cultivate class camaraderie, teach the importance of asking for help, and raise awareness to young children the importance of knowing the power simply offering assistance can have on others lives just as it did on mine. Whether it be to offer a hungry friend a snack or support a tablemate by explaining how to solve a difficult math problem, there are many ways to help peers in the classroom and encourage community-centered behavior. These principles will teach young learners the value of empathy, increase their social-emotional learning, and act as a translatable skill to apply throughout their lives. Reliance on interpersonal and community collaboration is an important life skill I learned that will continue my progress as an inclusive educator and active member of the community. The experience I had dealing with a temporary lack of housing has taught me to be perceptive of others facing instability or adversity and recognizing its negative impacts on educational and personal progress. This makes me uniquely situated for a career in the education of children, as I understand first-hand the positive influence and lasting impression of receiving support from those close to me. Through my experience with teaching I have come to realize how vital this community presence is for student’s well-being, especially their social development. Strong community bonds with their classmates make children feel comfortable to lean on one another, increasing their trust in the people around them. My personal journey has inspired my commitment to introducing equitable teaching methods through the emphasis of social-emotional learning to collectively bridge the gaps that may arise in a student’s life. The assistance I received from my peers taught me that community and family are synonymous. It’s my call to action to continue the facilitation of this type of classroom collaboration. My goal is that students of any background, experiencing hardship, may be able to ask for help and be met with an extended hand of support.

Throughout my upbringing, my family had struggled through financial instability and low-income status. This forced me to become financially independent at sixteen years old. Through years of full-time employment, I covered the costs of my UCSD tuition fees, basic needs, and helped contribute to my siblings' extracurricular activities. I was able to manage this independence, but a sudden family crisis resulted in my becoming temporarily unhoused. The search for affordable housing affected my educational career by dividing my attention from my studies to focusing on filling basic needs while experiencing financial hardship. I was hesitant to ask for help for something so personal and was determined to rely on the monetary resources I had saved to stabilize myself. When I finally revealed my dilemma to my inner circle, my partner and friends stepped in to support me by pooling their strengths together and offering acts of service. They offered their homes, tutoring in difficult classes, and transportation to work. The strength of the bond shared between us demonstrated to me that community and family are synonymous. It impacted my educational career in a pivotal way by highlighting the importance of asking for assistance. Relying on my community and being met with support gave me the opportunity to continue progress in my higher education, stabilize financially, and work to realize my goal of being an educator. Reliance on interpersonal and community collaboration is an important life skill I learned that will continue my progress as an inclusive educator and active member of the community. The experience I had dealing with a temporary lack of housing has taught me to be perceptive of others facing instability or adversity and recognizing its negative impacts on educational and personal progress. This makes me uniquely situated for a career in the education of children.

I’m a proud Chicana from Escondido, California, with a profound respect for where I come from. My Mexican immigrant parents did their best with the tools they had available to them. I’m grateful for the hard work and sacrifices they made to get my younger siblings and I where we are today. While they navigated life in the US, they were hindered from being fully present at home. Struggling with low-income status, limited access to affordable childcare, and long working hours meant that my home life was not always a supportive environment for my academic progress. Often alone with my four younger siblings, I became a reliable presence and the pillar of support they needed. I was raised on the philosophy of collectivism, putting the needs of the household unit above all else. This mindset developed into a core emphasis on community, feeling responsible for the well-being of my siblings, and a desire to help my family. It was my time at school that I found purpose, direction, and learned to flourish in an academically encouraging environment. My teachers have been supportive advocates, encouraging my education and personal passions at every point. It’s because of their dedication to teaching and belief in my potential that I was inspired to pursue a career as an educator. They served as the guidance I needed in the formative years of my development and reflected the type of role model I wanted to embody for the children who may not have consistent support at home. Through their kindness, I learned that the smallest acts of encouragement can make a life-changing difference in students' hearts and minds, bolstering their belief in their own capabilities. My experiences with nurturing teachers and school environments inspired me to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Writing/Literature and an Education Studies minor, where I graduated with honors with the highest distinction. My specialized coursework, community service opportunities, and meaningful relationships with professors in the Literature and EDS departments gave me the opportunity to combine my lifelong passions: being a reliable support system for children and encouraging a love of lifetime learning. In winter of 2021, I was inspired by Dr. Brandon Som’s coursework emphasizing multicultural literature. Being the first time I saw myself reflected in the work of authors of color, it led me to inherit his passion for cross-genre creative works and want to embody his collaborative workshop teaching style. The most meaningful work I created stemmed from the support and guidance of educators who encouraged my creative pursuits. Dr. Luz Chung, my first professor in the EDS program, emphasized the benefits of multicultural education in her classwork and research. It was she who pushed me to cultivate a passion project into action. The Intercultural Writing Workshop (IWW) was an after-school program I developed for high school students to introduce underrepresented authors and motivate them to write personal narratives reflective of their individual experiences. I submitted the project to the Triton Research & Experiential Learning Scholars (TRELS) committee and was awarded a grant to help fund the program and my studies for the following quarter. I established the IWW at San Pasqual High School, my alma mater, and facilitated the afternoon class to cater to the student population that is more than 50% students of color. This led me to create a curated curriculum, collaborating with Dr. Chung and Dr. Som, to include age-appropriate examples written specifically by authors of intercultural backgrounds. I wanted my students to find connections, see themselves in the pages they read, in hopes of increasing participation and garnering enthusiasm around reading. I offered these students the very opportunity I was given in Dr. Som and Dr. Chung’s classes, hoping they’d be motivated to lean into their creativity and follow a passion project to the finish line. Professor Som continued to inspire my love for multicultural literature and served as my honors thesis advisor for my final creative writing thesis: Consejos. The first draft of Consejos began as a writing example for IWW students and evolved into my own narrative reimagining of my adolescent experience, inspired by the stories discussed in the program with my students. Many stayed in touch after having continued their higher education journey, studying literature and publishing their creative works online. We had created an unofficial literary community together, exceeding all expectations of what I had intended for the group. The program continued to be student-led even after I left, stoking the fire for creative literature that had been passed down from the spark of one educator to another. My goal as a future educator is to teach in public elementary schools with a strong foundation in bilingual education, literacy promotion, and equitable practices to better serve San Diego’s multicultural communities. After my involvement in structured coursework, educational leadership, and community service, my next step is to seek higher education in this field. The Education Studies Department at UCSD has already offered me transformative knowledge, classroom experience, and academic opportunities through the Multiple Subjects Minor. I wish to continue my professional growth within the EDS program through the Master’s of Education and Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. I want to facilitate inclusivity through bilingual education by pursuing my BILA authorization. I hope to work with English Language Learners, to assist me as I strive to be an educator that encourages students to take pride in their multilinguistic backgrounds and help them with overcoming language barriers at school. The program at UCSD will help me realize my goals by refining my experience to become an asset for the diverse student populations I aim to serve. The support of mentors and their belief in my potential, fortified me with the confidence to progress forward in my career with a passionate dedication. I wish to embody this ideology moving forward to ignite curiosity, creativity, and passion in the next generation of students.