Natalia Montoya
Natalia graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 2014 and is one of the original authors of “Mi vida”, the book that this project is based on. She worked with Dr. Montoya in her “Spanish for Bilinguals” class as both a student and a teacher’s assistant. She currently resides in Florida with her family and works in the insurance industry where she utilizes her bilingualism everyday. Upon having her child, she decided that she wanted to continue to share her knowledge on her identity and raise her son to embrace his Spanish heritage and work toward learning his heritage language as well.
Eliezer Rosario II
Eliezer was raised in Buffalo, NY after his parents relocated their family of 9 from Puerto Rico. He graduated from SUNY Oneonta in May of 2006 with a BA in ALS and Spanish. He also completed his MSED at Canisius College in May 2009. He currently works for NYSDOCCS Office of Special Investigations. Eliezer shares his experiences of being bilingual as door-opening as he’s been able to obtain jobs that he didn’t believe he could qualify for. Eliezer shared that his Spanish for Bilinguals course at SUNY Oneonta was one of the best classes he took. It opened his eyes to the world of bilingual speakers far more than he was already aware of.
Angelica Martinez
Angelica graduated from SUNY Oneonta in 2011 with a BA in Psychology and minor in Spanish. She also completed her masters degree from The City College of New York in Childhood Education and has a professional certificate in Bilingual Education. She currently works as a DOE second and third grade bilingual teacher in Queens, NY. She uses her bilingual skills everyday to help and service bilingual students. She enjoys speaking Spanish with her students and the parents of her students. Being bilingual has been a huge asset in her career and she loves being able to encourage her students to embrace their own bilingual abilities and culture. This includes teaching her students to fluently speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish with confidence.