LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Angelica Garcia was nominated by her colleague, Tara Holt.

Ms. Garcia is a responsible, hardworking, considerate woman who is willing to enrich the lives of others through education. She has been happily married for 20 years to her husband, Jesus, and they have two children, Emilio and Isabella, both of whom attend Harmony School of Innovation-Fort Worth. From her humble beginnings, she came to the United States eager to learn.

It all started when her husband jumped on a job opportunity in Silicon Valley, CA at a high tech company. After growing up in Mexico, Garcia says, it was exhilarating to move and live in another country with not much, except for the willingness to become part of a great society. After spending time mastering the English language and the culture, she decided that she wanted to go back to work.

“I poured myself into technology classes and books to sharpen my skills and got a job in a small high-tech startup that was building the technology that we all know now as the cloud," Garcia said.

Her husband had the opportunity to go back to school to work on his Masters degree, so again, they decided to pack their belongings and move to Texas. After her husband finished grad school, she started soul searching for what she wanted to do for the second act of her life. After much consideration, she decided to teach.

"I knew that if I was taking the responsibility to educate the leaders of the future, I needed to prepare myself as much as I could. So, I went back to school to finish a Masters in teaching mathematics, and in the process, I became a math teacher at Harmony," Garcia said.

It has been many years since deciding to move out of her home country and claim the U.S. as her family’s home and future.

“Like many others who have gone on this incredible journey to the U.S., I’m humbled by the warmth and support of people of this country. They have made my very ordinary trek to the U.S. a fascinating adventure," Garcia said.

Education has always been an important part of Ms. Garcia's life. She completed her Bachelor’s in Computer Science back in Mexico, and has a Masters in Teaching of Mathematics from Texas Christian University. For six years, she worked for different companies in Mexico and the U.S. as a software engineer. Over the past five years in the classroom, this work experience has given her insight on how students learn and progress.

“She knew that computer science was something I could grasp," said Miguel Padilla, a Harmony School senior who attributed his success to Ms. Garcia. "She believed in me and gave me extra work so I could continue moving forward with my computer software skills.”

Last fall, Miguel scored a perfect score on the AP Computer Science Test-A, one of only 10 worldwide of nearly 60,000 test takers. He was recently accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he currently attends.

Mrs. Garcia admits to having her fair share of frustrations and disappointments. Her beginnings as substitute teacher, fresh out of graduate school were difficult, and trying to give math lessons to a class uninterested in math was tough.

"I remember long nights trying to make sense of this new career path, while at the same time preparing lessons for the next day to a sometimes rowdy, non-forgiving crowd of cheerful little smiles," Garcia said. “These struggles pale in comparison to the good fortune I have had in my personal and professional life all these years.”

Ms. Garcia has made a huge impact in the lives of many. She has been the coach of the FTC Robotics Club for four years, each time qualifying for Regionals and once, the Super Regional. She has also been the coach of the UIL Computer Science Team for three years, helping the team advance to the state competition each year. Last year, they were State Champions in their division.

Three years ago, she organized the "Girls Can Code Club," which was one of the first in Texas. Ms. Garcia wanted the girls to be exposed to STEM-related activities. In turn, she hoped the girls could see and emulate her love for computer science.

“I consider myself a responsible, hardworking, considerate woman that enjoys math and technology, and is willing to enrich the life of others through education," Garcia said.

Ms. Garcia is certain that these qualities could inspire kids to follow in her footsteps as she followed her own teachers’. She is such a gracious and steadfast leader, never losing sight of her ultimate focus.

“It has been a great joy to feel my work be appreciated by my peers and the school management, but it also reminds me of the responsibility to continue to work as hard as possible to provide the best education my students can have," Garcia said.