Raised in a military family had channeled my life towards conservative values of faith, family, freedom, and entrepreneurship. My parents were survivors of the atrocities inflicted in the Philippines during WWII by the Japanese regime precipitating my father to assist the American allies and enabling him to join the US Navy. He served proudly in WWII and in the Korean War. My mother remained in the Philippines for most of my father’s overseas deployment and subsequently my older brother and I were born there. At three years old, we headed to Japan for four years living at two US Naval Bases—Iwakuni and Atsugi. Little did I realize that my immigration to America from both of these foreign countries unfolded many trials and tribulations in acclimating to America. Although I spoke 3 languages, English was the most challenging!

My Filipino heritage and personal adversities to be accepted in this culture enabled me to be the type of teacher I evolved into. Having retired from the California elementary school system after 35 years of teaching service (I had taught every grade level), I considered myself to be a “duck out of water”—I was proud of being an American teacher, was a traditionalist, disliked the union, and embraced the values of teaching patriotic tenets to my students such as singing a traditional patriotic song after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and heralding the impact of our country’s American dream-makers: Chuck Yeager, Wilma Rudolph, Helen Keller, John Adams....I loved inspiring and motivating students and teachers (during my Teacher Training workshops)! In spite of my educator’s perspective, I was selected as “District Teacher of the Year” followed by another year’s selection as “Teacher of the Year” for my school. No surprise... my fifth grade class theme was: America...a Patchwork of Dreams

“I was proud of being an American teacher, was a traditionalist, disliked the union, and embraced the values of teaching patriotic tenets to my students such as singing a traditional patriotic song after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and heralding the impact of our country’s American dream-makers: Chuck Yeager, Wilma Rudolph, Helen Keller, John Adams" ~Arlene Stassinos