Rafael Vazquez, Alum (2008)
Rafael Vazquez is a West Phoenix native who graduated from the third cohort of AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute and from Westview HS in 2008. Under the guidance of AGUILA, he has since graduated with a bachelor's degree in International Relations '12 from Stanford University and two master's degrees from Arizona State University in Secondary Education '15 and Educational Leadership '16. A Teach for America alumnus '13, Rafael is currently an International Baccalaureate Maths Teacher at a private, independent, international school in Mexico City named the American School Foundation. He currently takes on many other hats besides teaching including being the Head of the Math Department as well as a K-12 Math Review Coordinator overseeing the math curriculum of all 4 schools on his campus.
Aside from the city life, Rafael has been able to explore much of Mexico (pre-COVID) from climbing the pyramids of Teotihuacan and el Tepozteco (rumor has it UFO's can be seen hovering in the night sky) to diving into the cenotes of Tulum and the 7 blue hues of water of the Bacalar lagoon. Rafael has been able to reconnect with his roots and build them even deeper with his Mexican family who he now sees consistently. Being at one of the largest Metropolitan cities of the world has also allowed Rafael to also easily sightsee outside of Mexico with Cuba being one of those destinations: a land of style, 50's vintage cars, joyful people and beautiful landscapes.
Post-COVID he would like to check off many other Latin American countries to his extensive bucket list. Rafael wishes he had known about the international teaching life much sooner, but it also could not have come into his life at a better time, hence his #1 piece of advice below!
His advice to the Aguilitas is the following:
Expose yourself to as many different careers as possible and don't get stuck on the one thing you like or are good at. Take advantage of our current online environment to reach out to professionals who can now be more receptive to online communication. Plan early and ASK for help! As Ms. H always says, you don't G-E-T unless you A-S-K. I have found this to be especially true with the SAT tutoring I charge a hefty sum for at the private school I teach at, something I provided for AGUILA voluntarily. Let's just say that knowledge is power (and oftentimes money as well).
The final piece of advice, because Rafael is a fan of threes, is to be careful what you put out online. If 2020 isn't any indication of the power of social media, Rafael doesn't know what is! Be sure to be proud of whatever you put out into the universe because it is a guarantee to come back to help or haunt you. That being said, Happy New Year because 2021 marks the year of Black Lives Matter, women's rights are human rights, no person is illegal, science is real, and love is love!
¡Adelante, que Sí, Se Puede!