Speaker: Gabriela Aguinaga, First Grade Teacher
Please introduce yourself and tell us what excites you most about joining the Good Shepherd community.
Gabriela Aguinaga: Hi, everyone. My name is Gabriela Aguinaga. I will be joining Good Shepherd this year. I'll be teaching first grade and, yeah, I'm super excited to be joining the community. I think the number one thing I'm looking forward to is just working in a place and with others who share that same sense of community and inclusivity and just, you know, contributing to my part and to my team. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.
What is an interesting fact about yourself or something people may not know about you?
Gabriela Aguinaga: So an interesting fact about me is that I have actually moved all over the world since I was born. Most of my childhood was moving around to different countries. I am Peruvian. Both of my parents are Peruvian, but I was born in Singapore. Then made my way to the United States in Houston, moved to England, then to Peru and then back to Dallas where I've been for a while. So, yeah, that has really contributed to me visiting and exploring other countries as well in Europe in South America. So, yeah, it's a pretty interesting fact. I like to tell people just because I think it has added a lot to my character, made me way more open minded and just diverse. So, yeah, I think that's a big part of me that I like sharing to others.
What is the best advice you ever received and who was it from?
Gabriela Aguinaga: Probably the best advice that I have received was definitely from a professor at Texas Tech. Basically to just invest in your relationships, whether it's the people in your life, like family, coworkers, friends, all those types of relationships we have in our life are meant to be cherished and valued. I think that's something that really resonated in me because I wasn't really fully aware of the importance of that. Definitely, I believe now that people in your life add value, the people you want in your life should be adding some type of value, whether it's love, support, friendship, laughter, positivity, lessons or growth. It's definitely an asset in our life that needs to be valued more than we expect. So yeah, I think that really hit home for me and has really changed my perspective on how I value how I put in time into the relationships that I have in my life.
What’s been the highlight of your summer?
Gabriela Aguinaga: Definitely the highlight of my summer was visiting my family in Peru. We went this month in July. It was very unexpected, so kind of last minute, but I'm very glad I was able to be there a couple of weeks seeing family and friends. We traveled a lot while we were there too. We went to Cusco, Trujillo, which is up north in Peru and even the beach. So it was genuinely very refreshing to see family and just, you know, spending quality time. Also had a bunch of good food, which was very, very exciting for me. Haven't had Peruvian food or good Peruvian food in a while.
What brings you joy?
Gabriela Aguinaga: I definitely think what brings me the most joy kind of going back to the question about the best advice is quality time with my loved ones. I love spending time with family and friends. It probably is my go to if I have free time during the week, whatever it is, I love spending time with family and friends. I think like I said before, it didn't really resonate with me, but now that I value it so much, I look forward to it. Just making memories. I think memories is a big thing. The time we have on earth needs to be spent pretty well. And I would say the happiest moments I've had have been shared with loved ones. So that's really what brings me joy. Aside from that, I have to say my dog, my dog Milo, he's a golden doodle, love him to death. He's crazy but always puts a smile on my face every day.
