¡Hola a la familia de Woods Charter School! My name is Glorina “Mery” Rojas-Lupoli. I am from an indigenous nation called Guna Yala, located on the Caribbean coast of the country of Panama. I moved to the USA in 2004. I maintain a permanent relationship with my Guna nation, and I am infinitely proud to be an integral part of my culture and people.
I am excited to join Woods Charter School as a Middle School Spanish Teacher. I am also going to be teaching Spanish 1. ¡Será fantástico! It will be fantastic! Spanish is more than a language and the Americas (North, Central/Caribbean and South) offer a vast and rich knowledge of cultures, tastes, languages, landscapes and much to explore. On the other hand is Spain, another great place to discover with many different languages and cultures integrated into one country.
When I am not teaching, I like to enjoy nature with my husband and daughters. I also love art and all its expressions; for me, art is a way to see the beauty and unexplainable elements of our lives through images, colors, poetry, lyrics, movements, and symbols. As I was growing up, books were my initial contact with Western society, and from them initiated my love for languages, cultures, and history.
As a professional, I worked as a Health Educator for a nonprofit organization in Durham, NC and as a Latino Parent Educator for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension in Durham. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the Universidad de Panama, and two postgraduate degrees in Middle and High School education with a concentration in Social Work from the Universidad de Panama and Universidad de las Américas in Panama. In 2013 I earned my M.Ed. in Adult Education from Auburn University. I have worked extensively with community development initiatives, health education, indigenous communities and immigrants, parents, and families of diverse ages in Panama, Ecuador and in the United States. As a Spanish teacher I am going to proudly join the Woods Charter family with seven years of experience teaching high school Spanish. I believe that with all my life experiences, optimism, and passion for sharing information, I can contribute to the Woods Charter Spanish language world.