It was not really intentional, but I realized that I spent most of my formative years moving around some of the biggest cities in America. Growing up around Los Angeles, I was around diversity and opportunity. Always excelling academically, I started working as a tutor since age 16. I taught Math, English, and even Spanish to super young kids to some peers and other high school students. My early interest in Psychology and Sociology led me to major in Psych and Law at UC Santa Cruz, a hippy town adjacent to San Francisco.

This is really where I became keen to progressive values, the pursuit of social justice, and the essential value of education. At this point I was a writing tutor for college level readiness, while double majoring and working multiple restaurant jobs throughout my time there. I became very independent and confident during this time in my life, and I would continue this trend of self actualization on my way to New York City.

Working as an After School Coordinator for City Year New York was one of the most intense experiences of my life. My placement in the disenfranchised community of East New York really pushed me to expand my cultural competence. I established strong bonds with students and teachers and coworkers, and I knew Education would be an important part of my life.

After this experience I decided to get my Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology, with an emphasis in Youth Justice. While I am grateful for this opportunity and learned so much, in my heart I knew I was more suited for the traditional education process.

This brings me to Madrid, the marvelous capital of Spain. Not only do I get to enhance my skills and ability as a teacher, but I get to immerse myself in a culture that I have always been enamored by, increase my bilingual fluency, and be around a landscape and a people known for its beauty, passion, and integrity. I hope to learn more about the things I already know pretty well, myself and my field, but I also want to be open to and learn some thing refreshingly unexpected and astonishingly new.