Career Changers: Married Couple Turns Together to Teaching
| by Hannah Sparling
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Dr. Andres and Victoria Negro experienced a chain of reactions when their grandchildren were born:
First, they were overwhelmed by the love they felt.
Second, they wanted to build a better world for the children.
Third, they didn’t want it to be for their grandchildren only, but for the entire generation and generations to come.
“All the love I give to them, I can also give to other [children] that maybe don’t have it in their houses,” Victoria said. “If I can do this for my grandchildren, why don’t I do it for other children?”
To the Negros, the solution was simple. They should become elementary school teachers. They enrolled in Moreland University’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program to earn their professional certifications, and today, Andres is staff support for Watkins Mill Elementary School, part of the Montgomery County Public Schools system. Victoria is a kindergarten teacher for Kemp Mill Elementary School, another MCPS school. Kemp Mill has a Spanish immersion program, so Victoria teaches entirely in Spanish.
Best Friends and Classmates
The Negros are initially from Peru, where they met as teenagers. Their friendship turned into dating, which led to a marriage that’s lasted 38 years and counting.
They are best friends who do everything together, and that included being in the same cohort for the TEACH-NOW program. It was perfect, Victoria said, because she and Andres have complementary strengths, so if there was an assignment where she struggled more, chances are Andres could help her, and vice versa.
“We are very best friends since we were young, but being classmates was an amazing experience,” she said.
Victoria’s favorite part of the TEACH-NOW program was the flexibility. If you’re organized, she said, you can balance family, work, and your studies. She also liked the clinical practice module, even though it was a lot of work. It gave her multiple viewpoints into education, she said, where she could see other people’s mistakes and successes and apply those lessons to her own classroom.
Andres loved working with and learning from his mentors in the program. In fact, the Negros graduated from TEACH-NOW in December, but Andres is going on to earn his M.Ed. through Moreland as well, with a focus on educational technology.
“What helped me the most was being able to connect what I learned in class with my real work in schools as a paraeducator — and now as a certified teacher,” he said. “Everything felt practical and useful.”
A Rewarding Change
Elementary education was a career change for the Negros, but they did have plenty of related experience to help them get started. Victoria has a background in preschool and Spanish education and as a training assistant for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. Andres has experience in economics, finance, business, and teaching at the university level. But he thought he could have a greater impact with younger students.
“As a university professor, I work with adults who already have experience and goals,” he said. “But in elementary school, I can help students build their foundation from the beginning.”
Looking forward, the Negros want to continue learning and growing their skills as educators. Victoria may end up going back to Moreland to earn her M.Ed. (she just wanted a break after completing the TEACH-NOW program). Andres thinks he may eventually like to pursue an educational consulting or principal role. And they both want to remember their motivation for becoming teachers in the first place — their grandchildren, now ages 5, 4, 3, and 1. Time with their grandkids is full of love, laughter, and wonder. They hope their classrooms are full of the same.
Andres thinks of how his students greet him at the start of each school day: “Good morning, Dr. Negro! Big hugs for you!” He’ll never tire of hearing that.
Victoria thinks of how her students react when they learn something new. During a recent lesson, she was teaching about the rotations of the sun and moon, and she used a big lamp to illustrate the sun. She’ll never forget the face of one of her students, eyes wide with wonder, and the beautiful drawing he made afterward to illustrate the lesson. To her, it may have been a simple concept, something she’s heard a million times. But to him, it was a new discovery.
“These kinds of things are very rewarding,” she said. “That we help them open their minds.”
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