Caridad Arenas-Johnson

After teaching for two years at Jordan L. Mott Junior High School in the Bronx, I decided to get my master's in education. There was a new program that taught English to students that did not speak English. I did some research on the number of students from other countries that learned the English language and was pleasantly surprised. I wanted to be part of that program and wanted to receive additional training. Unfortunately, after I got my master's, my dad became ill, and I left New York to come back home to Tampa. I had the qualifications that I needed to get a job in the Hillsborough County School System. I taught school for a few years. I got a resource position, and I was out of the classroom doing the ESOL program, which means 'English Spoken as the Other Language.' I worked for ten years in New York and 30 years in Tampa for a total of 40 teaching years. I loved the professors and being at CCNY. They made me the educator that I needed to be and gave me the foundation to be successful.