La maestra que siempre recordaremos

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹

Headshot of Mitzly Barrios. (Emelyn Gomez)

Una buena maestra alegra la clase con lecciones memorables. Mitzly Barrios Sanchez espera hacer exactamente eso con sus futuros estudiantes. Having lived many unique experiences, she hopes these stories show the importance of embracing culture.

Barrios, the middle of six siblings, grew up constantly moving around the U.S. alongside her single mother. When circumstances got hard, she moved to Mexico with her abuelita.

Su mamá perseguía el sueño americano, así que decidió empezar de nuevo en los EE.UU., esta vez con Barrios y sólo dos de sus hermanos.

To make ends meet, Barrios began working at age 12, selling men’s pants at a local flea market while living in a one-person apartment with eight other people in Hollywood, CA.

“It was a struggle, but then that motivated us and motivated my mom to work even harder,” she said.

After returning to Mexico for a second time, Barrios didn’t return to the United States until she was in 11th grade, when she came to Maryland. The back-and-forth between countries made it difficult to figure out the next steps in her academic career. Luckily, an academic advisor and mentor led her to UMD.

“I feel like all of those setbacks allowed me to… really think and like, echarle ganas, for me to go to college,” she added. 

Mitzly Barrios's Family (Courtesy of Mitzly Barrios)

Aunque sus inicios en la universidad fueron difíciles, Barrios siempre sabía que tenía una pasión por ser maestra de español. Como es su primer idioma, le encantaría ver el impacto de su trabajo trascender las fronteras.

“I really like the idea of putting this idea in their minds that they can do so much more with Spanish,” she said. “If they go out of the country and go to Latin America, they’ll be like, ‘I remember this from Miss Barrios’s class’… That’s my end goal for them.”

She double majored in secondary education world language and Spanish literature, language, and culture while minoring in human development. In her classes, she often felt isolated from her culture. 

She joined the Latina sorority Lambda Theta Alpha to navigate her struggles with people who knew what she was going through, something she couldn’t get from her family as a first-generation college student. She created lifelong circles amongst her peers and understands the importance of advocating for herself and her needs as a Latina.

Toda su vida, Barrios ha tratado de aprender de sus experiencias. Su mamá es la dueña de su propio camión de comida, enseñándole a Barrios lo que significa ser resiliente.

Siempre la motivó con el dicho: “El que es perico, dondequiera es verde”, lo que significa que puedes ser exitoso si te lo propones.

“If there’s a purpose, if there’s not a purpose, she’s my purpose,” she concluded.

"Estoy muy orgullosa de ti por ser una buena hija, amiga y estudiante. Te amo, mi niña bella." - Mitzly Barrios’s mother