General Background
I was born in the Chico area and have lived here nearly my whole life. I grew up living with three of my six brothers and my mom, who valiantly raised the four of us while going to college and working part time. My mom is truly an inspiration. After graduating from Durham High School in '99, I went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for two years. Since the Computer Science department wouldn't admit me, I transferred to Chico State, where I completed the Computer Science program and also earned a minor in Spanish. During my time at Chico State, I studied abroad in Spain for one semester, where I gained the majority of my Spanish language ability. Upon graduating from Chico State in '04 I got a job as a software developer for a local company called Auctiva Corp. Just under a year later, I got married to a lovely woman named Christina (Pina is her nickname that stuck). We've been happily married for about four years now as of this writing. She is studying to be a nurse.
My Path to Becoming a Teacher
After working for three years as a software developer, I decided it wasn't for me. I had been thinking about teaching as a possibility because I have a heart for young people and for their future. The direction of my life turned drastically when I went back to Chico State in the spring of 2008. I decided to pursue a single-subject teaching credential in mathematics but I didn't know the first thing about it. I looked up the classes I needed for the regular teaching credential and I enrolled. It wasn't until the fourth week of the semester that I talked to Dr. Charles Zartman about the bilingual teaching credential program (BCLAD). I didn't have to hear much before being convinced that I should do the BCLAD program. At that point, just before the deadline for changing classes passed, I changed the majority of my classes to prerequisites for the BCLAD program. I am now on my way to completing the BCLAD program in May of 2010. I continue to work part time for Auctiva to this day but my main focus now is earning my teaching credential.
Currently
I am currently in Phase I of the BCLAD program at Chico State and I am student teaching at Chico High School. It's going great! I have learned a lot and know that there is a lot more in store for me for this academic year!
