Angelica Mascarenas joins first class of bachelor’s grads at ceremony May 3
[LEADVILLE] – Angelica Mascarenas is a teacher at heart. When she lived in her native country, Mexico, she taught English as a Second Language courses for students as young as kindergarten-aged all the way up to adults.
Mascarenas comes from a well-educated family in Leon, Guanajuato. Most of her family has college degrees, and her eight siblings work as lawyers, teachers and architects.
“Any time you can get more education, it opens a lot of doors for you,” she said.
When she moved to Leadville with her husband in 2002, she realized only her high school certificate from Mexico would be approved in the U.S. To become a teacher again, she would need to return to college.
“I knew a degree would open up many more areas where I could work,” Mascarenas said.
In 2006, she completed her Associate of Arts degree at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville. When CMC started offering bachelor’s degrees in 2011, she decided to return to college to earn a business degree.
Mascarenas said the instructors at CMC helped her succeed. She said they were flexible with her class schedule – she worked two jobs while completing her bachelor’s – and she learned how everything connects in the business world. But her ultimate goal is to become a teacher again.
“I enjoy working with kids,” she said. “I like to see them acquire the knowledge I have been teaching.”
She is currently an ESL translator at West Park Elementary School in Leadville and she wants to return to teaching on a full-time basis. Her first goal is to work as a Spanish or ESL teacher for elementary students or, at some point, receive a master’s degree in human resources.
“You never finish learning,” she said. “It makes you a better person.”
By Stefanie Kilts