I was born in Toronto, Canada, but raised in Miami, FL. My Cuban family always taught me to value education highly, and that made me who I am today. I’m a huge nerd – I have always loved school and learning, and "student" has always been the most salient feature of my identity. My passion for education even led me as far as deciding to become a teacher, because in a classroom is exactly where I want to spend my career.

I had not decided on a major when I started as a freshman at FSU, but after taking Introduction to Education during my first semester, I was hooked. Of course, I had considered teaching before, but after taking that class I knew that I wanted nothing more than to become an English teacher. Teaching is an opportunity to give back and help students grow, and I look forward to every minute of it – even the difficult ones.

My firm belief in the intrinsic value and importance of education also influenced my decision to become a teacher. I’ve always enjoyed working with kids, and I was lucky to have had amazing teachers who inspired me and made it easy to admire the profession. I can only hope to someday come close to their degree of excellence as educators.

I took a campus tour in the 10^th grade and loved everything about FSU. More importantly, some of my best high school teachers were proud Seminoles. I looked up to them (and still do), so choosing FSU was easy.

After graduation, I plan to become a secondary English teacher. I hope to make a genuine, positive difference in my students’ lives, and I can confidently say that the FSU College of Education has prepared me to do just that.