Karla Flores Lopez is SCHS’s new English Learner Support and Assessment Technician, acting as a liaison between EL students, parents and staff. She has been working at her role for nearly two months, and her responsibilities at SCHS keep her occupied.

When Flores is not working, she is with her family. She has two kids– a son and a  daughter– who “keep [her] very busy” with shows and movies.

At eight, Flores was separated from her mother. She was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and moved to the United States when she was 16 to reunite with her mother and to learn America’s culture.

Flores did not adjust easily. She disliked the food and had to learn to speak and understand English.

At one point in high school, Flores was picked on to read out loud but was not yet fluent. As she read, her classmates laughed at her because she could not speak English very well.  

“This is the first time people are going to laugh at me because I don’t know English. So I’m going to learn and going to be determined. In a few more years I’ll be able to speak and understand English,” Flores said.

Flores took extra English classes during her high school years in summer school and also took adult classes with her mom in the evening. The work paid off. Flores is now fluent in both English and Spanish and has one goal checked off but many others to go.

According to Flores, she wants to “grow as a woman and stay professional.” Flores also wants to travel to Spain and Hawaii with her children to experience the cultures and see the landscapes. She hopes to teach her children the merits of traveling.

“I want them to know that traveling around is important,” Flores said.  “[Seeing] different places gives you a better understanding of diversity and being able to accept others the way they are with the way they speak. You adjust to their culture, ideas or beliefs, accepting how they are and being open-minded.”

Though Flores wants to teach her kids lessons, she also hopes to teach elementary school in the future. Currently, she monitors 250 EL students at SCHS. She would like to get to know them all and “be a role model for other students” since she, too, was an English learner.

“It was an interesting journey,” Flores said. “I am happy I went through it because I definitely learned a lot.”

Flores’s journey has made her proud of her choices and she is passionate about continuing her future.

“The award I get with working with parents is just great for me,” Flores said.