Angelica Rivera

I've been in education since 2012, about 14 years now, and I currently serve as Director of Education at a private, personalized one-to-one school. My title is Director of Education, though I often say vice principal because that's what most people understand when I'm talking to people out on the street. I work in a unique school setting where we have around 120 students and 34 teachers, and it's not like a traditional school with 20 to 30 students in a classroom. Instead, it's one-to-one, just the student and the teacher. My students have schedules kind of like a college schedule - some have 2 classes a day, some have 4 or 5, and I might see them 2 days a week or every single day depending on their needs. I'm there from 7:30 or 8:30 until 3:30 or 4:30 every day, either in my office or walking around school, available for whatever the teacher or student needs, whether that's curriculum needs or behavioral needs. Our school is geared towards personalized curriculum for any student who has a particular need - whether it's an academic need, a behavioral need, or even just a life need like students who travel for sports and need flexible academic time, or students whose academic needs don't work in a traditional setting. The type of school setting that I'm in is pretty perfect for what I went to school for, honestly. I just love what I do. I never really thought that I would be in this kind of director of education position because I've always wanted to just coach teachers, but in this particular position, I actually do do that. Prior to this role, I've been doing instructional coaching, and before that, just teaching in the classroom. Education was nothing that was on my heart growing up - I did not want to be in education at all. Me and my husband both graduated in public relations. After graduating undergrad, I took a trip to visit my brother in the Philippines, and it kind of led to a very long trip. I ended up accidentally helping out friends on a mission trip, and they were starting a school and kind of made me help them. I was kind of forced to help them, and I fell in love with these little kids. The really short trip ended up being a seventh month trip of teaching. I came back to the States and got my master's in education, and then ended up just finishing my doctorate in education. As I grew in education, I started to love what I thought I didn't love - which started to be kids, and then it started to be technology, and it started to be one-on-one learning. Now I'm in a position where I'm in a school where I'm in personalized education, and I just finished my doctorate, and I'm in a place where I feel like where I'm supposed to be. I feel like right now I've accomplished what I never thought I would be, which is that I'm exactly where I need to be right now.