Ivania Zelaya Rodriguez

Volunteer
Bent Elementary School

My name is Ivania Zelaya Rodriguez. I grew up in a home with a mom who is an educator and accountant, and a father who not only works in construction, but also has a degree in agronomic engineering. This set the foundation for our family where education and building things were valued. These values motivated me to graduate in Nicaragua as an Electronic Engineer at the National University of Engineering.

A few years back, my career path took a turn and I started following another vocation, this time in education. Once I started teaching, I obtained my Master in Education from Grand Canyon University, followed by an ESL and Bilingual endorsement at Saint Francis University. I am ⅔ into completing my M.S. in Ed. in Reading at Illinois State University. I have had the honor to be part of District 87 for almost 10 years now, where I have the opportunity of combining both of my backgrounds education and technology.

Since 2015, former and current students have had the privilege of learning from Junior Achievement volunteers that have taken the chance on teaching the program to bilingual students. These experiences that volunteers like Rachel Kaplan, Andrew Modine, Valerie Wilder, Renarda Dumas, Nathan Sandon, and Ted Russo share with my students help them create connections between the world outside the school and the academic content that students learn in areas like Literacy and Social Studies.