Q: What made you decide that teaching was a route that you wanted to take?

A: Actually, I did not go to college to become a teacher. My career switched and that’s why I tell my students to always have a double major on something that you love and your passion. I did it in Spanish literature just in case, just because I loved it and after graduating, I did not know what to do and I needed to get a job because I didn’t want to go back to my parents house I got a job in a private school as a Spanish teacher and I said, you know, for a few months, I’m gonna save some money, maybe stay a year in the school and I loved it. The connections I had with kids, it was easy for me to teach and it was a job that I loved. I loved going to work every day and the main thing was making a connection with students. It was the best.

Q: So how has teaching influenced your life in both positive and negative ways?

A: It has helped me to build empathy in general. It has helped me learn to be in the shoes of other people, like the way that I talked to them, the way that I’ve made more understanding that maybe this person is going through something, especially teenagers. I think it’s a hard stage of life and it has helped me to understand it. To be understanding and to ask questions: Are you okay? Why are we doing this? And it has helped me also as a mom, with my own children, you know, to see where they are and to ask questions.

Q: What is one of your proudest achievements? How did it affect you?

A: I will say several but I will also say that I still have many to accomplish. What I have achieved is, you know, seeing those students that were in my classes and after three, four or five years, they still talk to me and send me a text message saying, “Salinas, I’m here in Panama, I’m using my Spanish,” or just simply saying, “hey, Señora Salinas, I am going to school to become a teacher, thinking of you”. So for me, those are accomplishments that I think somehow have impacted my students’ lives. I think that for me, that’s the big thing, to see that they are doing great and that they are sharing those happy moments with me.

Q: What are some of your interests outside of school?

A: I love spending time with my family, especially spending time alone with each one of my kids. I think each is different and when I’m with them, both of them, it is like they don’t get the full attention. So yeah, spending time with family, traveling and going back to my country. I like camping, nature and I like reading a good book. [Camping] is disconnecting. Not worrying about having to check emails, I have to respond to them, I don’t have to be checking my phone. Because you know, this is a connection. When I go camping, I go with my kids and my husband, they are my little circle. I know that it’s my time to spend with them and I don’t have to worry about anything else. I get to breathe and walk and see the trees and the sky.

Q: What is one thing on your bucket list that you hope to do in the near future and why did that make your list?

A: You always have to have goals even if you’re old, right? And my goal is to maybe do another Masters or why not a doctorate but I’m still thinking about it. I see that in my future, going back to school but not in the United States or in Peru because those are the two countries that I’ve been going to school. I would like to go to another continent like Europe and learn more about my culture, my background, Spain, about the language because that’s where the language comes from. 

Q: What is one piece of advice that you have for your students on how to be successful?

A: I will say to be successful is to live in the moment, not to worry so much about the future, because it’s not there yet. If you have a good present, if you enjoy it, if you enjoy your friends, your family, you appreciate what you have right now. It is going to help you to make that path for the future. To make it better because you worry too much and that’s what happened to me when I was young. I worried too much about what is coming next: “What am I going to do? What am I going to do after college?” I did not enjoy the present. And I think we should enjoy the moments. Why is this happening to me and leave the present? Because the future is gonna come no matter what, but it’s not there yet.