Andrea Granados:
CLASS OF 1985
Warren Travis White High SchoolClass of 1985
Dallas, TX
Coppell Middle School NorthClass of 2006
Coppell, TX
Edinburg North High SchoolClass of 1994
Edinburg, TX
Lakeview Centennial High SchoolClass of 1991
Garland, TX
Greenhill SchoolClass of 1985
Addison, TX
Andrea's Story
(Note: The answers below are all from 2004.)
Life
Q: How do you feel about your life right now? Though spending so long in grad school had many low points, I'm thrilled to have met the love of my life along the way and to have been able to discover a great career in adult education (no, not *that* kind!).
Q: What do you like to do in your free time? (See profile, but also:) spend time with our little nephew; read and read aloud; bailar salsa, merengue, y bachata; use my Spanish/English abilities in novel and useful ways
Q: What's your dream vacation?
#1: Visiting my husband's home country with plenty of time, transport, & film
#2: Visit all the Spanish-speaking countries
#3: Go back to Spain to the cities I went to the first time, this time with my family + time to see the sights properly
Q: How would your friends describe you?
A: Talkative, friendly, smart, and yet never without SOME complaint :)
Q: If you won $100 million tomorrow, what would you do?
After tithing & savings, the first things:
- buy my littlest brother-in-law the cow he's been asking for :)
- help the in-laws start a home business so they have steady income
- buy the chunk of land back home "going for a song" that they keep saying we ought to buy while it's all up for grabs
- get a few of the things for ourselves that currently await my return to full-time work (little things like broadband & a futon, big things like a house)
- scholarships at a couple of my old schools, in my grandparents' names + donations to the libraries
- improve donations to World Vision, Habitat, & The Nurturing Network
- hire somebody to organize my dream foundation: provide multimillionaire athletes with sound financial advising while helping them set up educational foundations to assist schools (to even out the old imbalance of athletes making so much money as to ruin their lives, while teachers and schools struggle to get by)
Pet peeve:
"Pet peeve" doesn't begin to describe these, but:
(1) people who smoke around kids -- that should be classed as abuse
(2) people who make it big and spend 100% on themselves when there are so many ways they could use even 10% to make a lasting difference in others' lives
School
As a student:
Well, a lot would be different (mostly for the better) if my ADD had been spotted and attended to long before age ...Expand for more
30, but considering, I've had a great run.
Met a number of wonderful teachers along the way: Mrs. Booker, who believed in me even when I was only doing tiny chunks of the assigned work (6th grade); Ms. C, who sponsored Y-Teens in junior high and helped me feel valuable and appreciated at a time when I had grave doubts; Mrs. Davis and Mr. Haynie, who gave me the low grades I deserved but taught me so much anyway; Mr. Morris, who gave me a chance to shine and to perform at my actual level of potential - and who was one of the only teachers to support me when I chose a "nobody" school that turned out to be just the ticket.
As a teacher:
That first year was so rough - co-workers who fought constantly and students who worked much harder at goofing off than they'd ever have had to work for success - but also a number of students who blossomed and thus unknowingly kept me going, too. It's been fun hearing about them since joining Classmates.
My second school had its problems, but it was a joy to be in a school long enough to watch students start growing up and realizing that they could actually have and achieve a worthwhile dream. Classmates has re-connected me with many of them, too -- including the student I'd most wondered about over the years, which was a mystery I was delighted to have solved at last.
Now I'm relishing teaching Spanish in the community college environment and preparing to defend my dissertation next month and move back to Texas, after a decade locked away in the ivory tower.
College
See School bio.
Workplace
My Job
I'm teaching Spanish part-time at a community college these days while wrapping up my dissertation; it's a great place to work and I'll be sorry to leave it, but I hope to find a similar position that gets us back to Texas.
Teaching is my first love, but I've done a number of other things with my time -- visiting door-to-door for the census was probably my favorite of all the short-term jobs I've had since college.
Q: What is most important to you at work?
A: Doing work that benefits others -- though after several years of having only time for part-time jobs, getting a solid salary again is going to be a dream come true.
Q: What would you do if you could take a month off from work?
A: Travel abroad; Visit family & friends; Work around the house
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
