ABSTRACT
At about 1:20 pm, the bell rings. I was one college preparatory class away from the weekend. I run downstairs, stop in the faculty room, pick up class materials on my desk. Bell rings. I am late for class. In heels, I sprint across the multipurpose space, open the classroom door anticipating the complaints of a classroom full of high-school juniors about their previous homework assignment-completion of their college essay. I enter to a barrage of applause and whistles. “Congratulations, Dr. Montañez!” was written on the dry erase board in red ink. It was then that I felt what I knew all along, that my obtaining a doctoral degree served a greater purpose beyond myself.
