I was born at the foothills of the only mountain in a desert region of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. My parents were missionaries starting a school that intended to train local Mexicans on how to use practical skills, such as building wells and teaching basic literacy to the neighboring indigenous tribes. The goal was to not only spread an abstract gospel of parables and penance, as many had done before, but to become sources of transformative change rather than simply relaying platitudes. It was in this environment that I first developed a love for teaching and more importantly for service.

Throughout my years in Mexico, we moved only once, from the rural town I was born in to one of the largest cities in the world. Mexico City is where I lived until I left for college and where my love for teaching matured. While in high school, I met one of my father’s former students who was working with Alfalit an organization that had partnered with UNESCO to teach literacy in some of the most prohibitive and under-served areas of Mexico and Central America. After meeting this woman, I began volunteering several times a year with Alfalit, recruiting teachers from the city, teaching them literacy methods, and then travelling to often guerrilla controlled areas of southern Mexico. Within a few short weeks of our arrival we would have taught dozens of previously illiterate adults how to read, write, and do basic math, but more importantly, how to share what they had learned with others. The experience was literally life changing for everyone involved.

These early experiences with education are what led me to volunteer as a community organizer in Brazil for six months, the place where I ultimately met my wife. It also led me into taking a position in special education as an ABA counselor, an experience that has proven to be one of the most challenging and yet rewarding of my life. Teaching this wonderful group of students for the past 4 years, while also tutoring inner city children in Lynn, Massachusetts, has made it clear to me that the field of education is where I belong. I am convinced that the next step for me is to continue my education and become a public school ESL/Spanish teacher and I believe Clark is the ideal school to equip me to reach this goal.

I have thought about going to graduate school for the past several years, even looking into and inquiring about the majority of MAT programs throughout the Boston area, but ultimately, the programs did not resonate with me enough to apply and I always ended up delaying the decision. This December my wife was accepted into UMass Medical School, and I decided to take a look into the local MAT programs in Worcester. Clark’s program struck a chord  with me like no program previously had, and I am convinced that my personal and professional experiences combined with the schools vision for the future of education are an ideal match.

I hope to use my experiences and knowledge toward becoming an active educator that serves my community by bringing education to children and young adults independent of their background and social status. Clark’s commitment to and partnership with the urban public schools of Worcester, along with the schools intensive hands-on educational approach are exactly the brand of practice-intensive education I am interested in pursuing. More importantly than any curriculum, I believe Clark shares my values and convictions on the pressing need for more high quality, urban, culturally adept education, principles which I am sure will help me fulfill the potential I have as a student and educator.

On the left is when I started the program, on the right is him today.