A young girl passed out papers to her cousins, passionately giving instructions to her pretend students. Although make believe, this was one of her first experiences teaching, but she knew it would be one of many.

     Senora Calvo is the Glen Rock High School’s newest Spanish teacher. This is her 11th year teaching across both elementary and high schools. Along with being an incredible teacher, she has a visual impairment and brings her service dog Jaime, beloved by her students, with her to school every day.

     Calvo was born with a visual impairment. She got her first service dog at the age of 16 when she was just a junior in high school. Calvo has always known she wanted to be a teacher. When she was just a kid, she would play teacher and knew that it was what she was meant to do as her profession: “I just felt like, you just have it in you.”

     She began college with a teaching career in mind but wasn’t sure what subject she wanted to teach. She took Spanish as a minor throughout college and during a Spanish literature class, she concluded that Spanish was what she wanted to teach. She grew up speaking Spanish with her parents, who are Colombian, and her grandmother, who only spoke Spanish.

     Calvo eagerly shared, “I like to share about my disability as well as sharing my experience growing up with both cultures with the students. I really enjoy the cultural part of teaching.”

    Calvo described how at first, as a teacher with a disability, it was difficult to earn people’s trust.

“It’s hard to kind of get your foot in the door when you have a disability,” Calvo stated. “Sometimes people are afraid of giving you a chance.”

    Of course, there are laws in place so everyone gets equal rights and opportunities, but you don’t come across a blind person every day. Oftentimes, there is a lot of fear around the unknown and she needed people to give her a chance.

      There are innovations like a screen reader that can help Calvo in class. This tool can read out what is on the screen helping her navigate a computer. She talked about how so much of teaching a language is speaking and listening.

     As one of her students, I can say that Calvo is brave and feels passionate about teaching. While struggling with the obstacles of being blind since birth, she has had to overcome so much. She creates a safe environment where students can learn in a positive way that leaves them looking forward to coming to her class every day. She likes to create bonds with her students so they can feel comfortable talking to her about Spanish.

     One of Calvo’s students, Emily Hochman, described how fun her class is: “All of her activities are so interactive and I am learning without realizing it. She has such a smart teaching approach.” Emily feels grateful to have such an amazing teacher.

     Currently, Calvo has a golden labrador, Jaime, who is her second service dog. Jaime has been working with Calvo for five years and loves coming to school every day and seeing the students. Calvo got Jaime when she was a year and a half after Jaime had been taught basic obedience and was trained by a specialized trainer. These trainers teach dogs how to navigate traffic, escalators in the mall, staircases, and just obstacles in general that a service dog would need to guide someone around.

       Calvo recently celebrated Jaimie’s Birthday on Nov. 29 with a pup cup from Starbucks.

    Calvo got her first service dog when she turned 16. This is the youngest age you can get approved to have a service dog. Many factors go into this process. First, you have to fill out an application and then it is decided if you are independent and responsible enough to take care of a dog by yourself. So Calvo got approved and brought her service dog to school throughout her junior and senior years. Calvo enjoyed teaching at the elementary school level and thought it was great but prefers teaching high school students.

    “I think Jaime prefers the high school too,” Calvo said with a smile. “When she comes into class, she grabs her little toy and she has her own little den, that is her own space.”

     Calvo’s favorite part of teaching is seeing her students progress. She loves hearing about how they use Spanish in their everyday lives. She also loves creating a bond with her students and knowing she made an impact on their lives.

     Although she loves her job, she described how there are definitely challenges to being a teacher. Specifically teaching Spanish, there is kind of a stereotype in America that we don’t need to know Spanish because we don’t speak the language here. That a language class is just a box you need to check off to graduate high school. But in reality, it is so valuable to be bilingual in today’s society.

     Outside of school, Calvo is a busy mother of two. She enjoys reading books and listening to podcasts and documentaries. She also loves baking with her son, nature, and going on walks with Jaime.

    Calvo is a welcome addition to the Glen Rock High School and she has so much more to share with our school community than her Spanish teaching contributions. She has to overcome so many additional challenges daily, and there is so much to her story that we can all learn from. Calvo is beyond brave and continues to teach her students how to be determined, positive, and hardworking, much like herself.