It was mid Aug of 2000, and the Pembroke Pines Charter Academic Village High School had just been built and opened in time for the new school year. As a sea of new students flooded the hallways, an incoming freshman, Ms. Salazar, never thought that she would have a future at the school. However, 16 years later, she became a teacher at the very school that shaped her life, and is now called “home.”
Ms. Salazar officially joined Charter as a 7th grader attending West Campus Middle School, and with Charter being fresh to the community, it took some time to get used to the new setting and people. “I had a lot of really great memories in elementary because we were all new. There were kids coming from all over [different schools], so we didn’t grow up together as most students do now, which was definitely a good bonding experience.”
As Ms. Salazar made her way through the Charter pyramid, she would find herself making connections with fellow students and building relationships that would stand the test of time. She wholeheartedly expresses, “Some of my best and closest of friends went to high school with me. The bonds and friendships that you build at Charter truly tend to last a lifetime.” It was around this time that Ms. Salazar’s love for the school began and continued to strengthen until graduating in 2005.
After high school, Ms. Salazar went to Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for an undergraduate degree in business management and marketing. Once she realized that the business world wasn’t for her, she started looking at other career paths, and something that always interested her was teaching. She went on to receive her master’s degree in Educational leadership, graduating in 2018.
Looking back on her time at the high school, Ms. Salazar realized that it was at Charter where her desire to become an educator stemmed from. Although teaching wasn’t her first career choice, she took a liking to her Spanish teacher, Ms. Matos, who she credits as the person who inspired her to become a teacher.
It was influences like these in her life, along with all the memories she made at Charter, that called for her return. “Some of my favorite memories were from all the spirit weeks, and pep rallies. Back then, each class was separated by color; you could represent your grade. They were a lot of fun!”
After receiving her teaching license, Ms. Salazar went back to the high school that she greatly adored, except this time, as an alumna. “Charter is [my] home, my kids go here, my cousins went here, my sisters went here; it’s just part of who I am.”
Ms. Salazar has now been teaching at Charter for the last decade, enlightening students on the subjects of Algebra 1, Geometry, and, currently, Algebra 2. Since becoming a teacher, she has been able to add to the multitude of memories that she has made at this school. She strives to have a lasting impact on her students and to be a teacher who truly cares about their student’s education, working to see them thrive. Ms. Salazar has accomplished her goals as a teacher and is much appreciated for her commitment to the school. So on behalf of Charter, if no one has said it after all these years: Welcome home, Ms. Salazar!
