Where are you from?

I am from Lakewood, but my family is from Mexico. I was born in Long Beach, but I have been living in Lakewood for the past couple of years.

What high school and college did you go to?

 I went to Artesia High School which is in Cerritos. Then I went to UC Irvine and got my Bachelor’s degree from UCI in Spanish Language and Culture and got my teaching credentials from Cal State Long Beach.

How are you liking Arroyo so far?

I love it. I love the campus, the staff. Everyone is very nice, very welcoming, and the students are great too.

Why did you choose to teach spanish?

I grew up knowing Spanish, and I have a passion for the culture and learning other people’s culture. I like to teach that to the kids so they can be culturally aware because our world is changing. In the United States, we don’t have one culture; there’s so many and being able to teach that and to be passionate about it is the best feeling ever.

What are your hobbies?

 I crochet. I also have three dogs so I go to the doggy beach, doggy park, and spend the rest of the time with my fiancé. My dogs’ names are Dodger, because we’re L.A. Dodger fans, Lilo, because I love the movie Lilo and Stitch, and Papas, who originally was going to be named Stitch because he was a rescue dog but we stuck with papas….little potato.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to a little of everything. I love the Beatles, and I love spanish music, Rock en Espanol, or Cumbia, rock pop, Maroon 5…. Adam Levine.

What is your least favorite subject?

I wasn’t a math person because I wasn’t good at it. For some reason, it would never click. I could have tutors, I can go over it, but it would never stay in my head.

What is your best high school memory?

 In high school, I was in color guard where I became really close with a lot of the girls. I came in really shy and I wasn’t very outgoing but when I joined, they treated me like family. It made my high school experience memorable. It was so memorable because of how family-like we were. From that, I’m not shy anymore, I am very outgoing. I’m very social and I love talking to people. I think as you get older you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. I just kept pushing myself to start talking to people and after that my whole life changed. It took me a really long time from the transition of being shy to now talking to so many students daily. I used to get super red when I had to present in front of people.

What would you be doing if you weren’t teaching?

I would probably be a counselor, even a school counselor. I love being a mentor for kids because I come from a really hard background. I had to ask for hand-me-downs. If my older sister grew out clothes, then that was my clothes. That’s why I feel like I can connect with kids. In a way of telling my story, teenagers can see that they’re not alone.

How long have you been teaching?

Well this is my first year at Arroyo, I used to teach long term subbing at Garden Grove Unified. I did that for 8 years, so I have been in the classroom for a long time.

What made you want to start teaching?

The students. I started off teaching Special Needs class. I got to know the kids and loved the bond between them. During lunch, we would just talk about stuff to get to know each other. I felt like I wanted my own classroom and students to be able to keep that bond, to push any kid that comes through my life and achieve great things made me always want to be a teacher.