Page 26 - May/June HER 2020

26 MAY HER
HER Educator
You’re out of excuses. Maybe this is the time, maybe you should go back to school now.’”
After her husband retired in 2015, the two moved to Hot Springs, giving her the opportunity to take a break from working and go back to school.
“I remember I was so scared because I had never learned English in a classroom,” she said. “The English I know is by speaking it, self-taught ... but I went, and (the GED office was) so welcoming, they treated me like I mattered ... I had flashbacks of how Professora Alfredo had been with me as a kid, and I remember thinking that’s why I wanted to be a teacher. This is why because they help you; they inspire you.”
Fitzpatrick completed her GED and immediately enrolled in National Park College, starting within a month. Two years later, she completed an associate degree and won the All-Star Academy Award, which gave her a full-ride scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas. She will graduate next fall with her teaching degree, and wants to teach Spanish to grades 2-12 at a Hot Springs school.
“I have enjoyed every minute of it; I love it. To me, it doesn’t matter how long it took me to get here, what matters is I’m making it,” Fitzpat- rick said. “I’m going to be a teacher.”
She noted her mother is now her “biggest cheerleader,” and, pandem- ic permitting, she plans to fly her out to her Arkansas to attend UCA’s graduation commencement ceremony.
“I’m so grateful that I got a second chance to become a teacher be- cause I know there are so many people out there who are totally capable, but life is not easy, and they just didn’t have the opportunity, and they may never get it,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just hope they get a chance.”
She said her goal as a teacher is to “pay it forward” and to instill in students that they should get a higher education and that they can as long as they focus, dedicate themselves and work hard.
“I feel like there are so many children, and not just children, people who all they hear are negative things, naysayers (saying) ‘You never will,’ and I feel like sometimes we just focus on what people can’t do instead of what they can do,” she said.
photo by César Celis
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