After a long and memorable teaching journey, Ms. Julie Beltran is retiring after 31 years of teaching and inspiring students at Arroyo High School.
Ms. Beltran is best known as an English teacher who has plenty of wisdom and experiences to share and pass on with her students. However, Ms. Beltran did not always want to become a teacher. This may come as a surprise due to her dedication and demonstrative joy that she is able to convey through her teaching.
“When I was in college, I originally wanted to be a marketing major and I wanted to work in advertising since I thought it would be creative and fun. After community college, I ended up at Cal Poly and I took an English class there. We were discussing poetry and I was like, “Wow! I forgot how much I loved this.” And at that moment…I thought this is something I could do that’s creative, it gets kids to think, gets them to ponder, and gives them those ‘aha moments.’ That’s when I switched and decided to do English instead,” Ms. Beltran explained.
Throughout this adventure in Ms. Beltran’s life, she was not only able to see students accomplish their goals, but she was also able to achieve some of her own purposes as a teacher. When Ms. Beltran was asked about her greatest accomplishments as a teacher she stated, “As students graduate and I see them leave as young men and women after they were squirrely freshmen all the way through seniors and I see them leave as young adults and see their progress that they’ve made over those years. It makes me really proud of them. And it doesn’t have to be just in my class but you see emotional changes and you see changes in work ethic. Just overall they’re leaving as men and women and it is just really neat to be a part of that process.”
Anybody knows that teaching is not an easy job to take on and be successful at. Yet, Ms. Beltran has been able to overcome those tough challenges that come with being a teacher and has resulted in success as she takes great pride and pleasure in seeing her students grow up and become enlightened young adults.
As this teaching chapter of her life is closing, a new chapter is just beginning. “I plan to do some travel right away and then after that I would like to get a part-time job just so I can get out and be among other people and have something to do during the day, keeping active. Also, I bought a bunch of voiceover equipment because I’ve always had this desire to do voice overs. I have an in-home studio so I can start that project,” Ms. Beltran shares.
Given the amount of time and service Ms. Beltran has served at Arroyo, it is clear to say that she is highly qualified to share advice and pieces of wisdom to new, incoming teachers. Ms. Beltran shared passionately, “The advice I received when I became a teacher, that is absolutely crucial, is being consistent. Don’t start flip flopping around on your kids and changing stuff. Also, if you make mistakes, that’s okay. And if the students see that, that’s okay. They can see you’re not superhuman and you make mistakes so if they make mistakes that’s okay too because we all learn from our mistakes.” She makes sure to reassure teachers that it is okay to show their human side of life because nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes!
Ms. Beltran has the reputation of a fun-loving, energetic, and overall, special teacher. She is magical and will always be remembered as that. She sparked student’s lives as if it was her life purpose to encourage and inspire students. Arroyo High School will never be the same without Ms. Beltran and we are very grateful for what she has given to the school; we are also very excited for what is yet to come from her.
