As I think of the adventures and learning opportunities lying just beyond my horizon, I recall the first time that I heard my calling to educate children in Spanish speaking communities. It was on a warm night in July in the Dominican Republic. Candles provided just enough light for me to see the faces of my host family, as we awaited the arrival of the evening electricity. We spoke in Spanish about school work and the challenges that families in the community faced with access to education. My host brother chimed in, stating that he could not attend school due to lack of resources. The roadblocks between him and his education brought forth an irreversible mission to immerse myself in a rural community and provide an education to every child, regardless of economic or geographic barriers.
As a volunteer in the rural towns of Batey Libertad and Franco Bidó, my outlook on education was irrevocably altered. Every morning, I found myself climbing the hills that the local children climbed every day to get to their school house. I felt the stones against the soles of my feet and the burn that enveloped my legs as I trekked up the steep, dirt hills, and watched my host brother march off to the coffee fields every morning instead of going to school. Added together these observations, interactions and experiences taught me to value education as a precious gift and to dedicate myself fully to advocating for the education of others.