Tell us why you became a teacher

I became a teacher to bridge the gap for multilingual learners and newcomers, ensuring language is never a barrier to success. While my mission started with bilingual advocacy, I fell in love with teaching math and science. I’m deeply passionate about space exploration and the incredible work being done in the field today. I strive to inspire my students to see themselves in the stars, combining linguistic support with curiosity for the universe.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

Post COVID, we had an outer space day in our classroom and one of the activities was to learn from a NASA engineer that Zoomed in with the class and answered all of their burning questions. To finish the day, the class watched from the edge of our seats as the Mars rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. In the middle of those cheers, I heard something that changed me forever. Dozens of my students were yelling with pure excitement, "I want to work for NASA!"

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would love to travel to Houston with my family to visit Johnson Space Center. It has been a dream of mine to visit as many of the Space Centers in the country. I've been lucky to visit The Space and Rocket Center, in Huntsville, and the Kennedy Space Center, in Titusville. I would also like to travel to Mexico to visit my dad and brothers, who I haven't seen in a few years. Family is incredibly important to me, so it has been hard not seeing them as often as I would like to. Thank you!