My name is Shirley Olivares an alumni from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. I graduated in 2017 with a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership for Linguistically Diverse Learners and have been in the education field for more than 5 years. I started my career working as an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Tutor at Fort Bend ISD, as I completed my Bachelor Degree in Bilingual Education. During my time as an AVID Tutor, I worked with small groups of High School students on different subject areas.

Later in 2015, I began my teaching career at Harmony Public Schools (HPS) as an English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher and a year after as an ESL Coordinator, at the High School level.  However, after two years I felt the need to gain experience in Bilingual education. This is when I started my position as a 5th Grade Reading/Social Studies Teacher in 2019 at E.A. Jones Elementary. This year will mark my third year working with elementary students. The experiences I have gained throughout my teaching career have inspired and motivated me to continue working on becoming a better Teacher every year and making a positive impact on students. I hope that these experiences allow me to keep helping children in different ways and that I am able to provide support to others.