Cynthia Gonzales is an Exchange Cultural Teacher with the J1 Program. She is from the Philippines and arrived in New Mexico in August of 2019. This is her first year teaching at Santa Fe High School, teaching Geometry and Algebra 2. She is a Master Teacher I in the Philippines, with 17 years of experience.

Ms. Gonzales said the main reason she wanted to teach here was because she would “learn the culture, the technology, how the education system of the U.S. [functions], and for professional growth.”

Ms. Gonzales attended the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology in the Philippines, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial education and majored in mathematics. She also earned her master’s degree with a Master of Arts in Education major in mathematics in 2014.

“At first, math was not my favorite subject,” she said. But instead of getting a degree in physics and chemistry, which involves an excessive amount of memorization, her choice was to get a degree in mathematics because it involved less memorization, which was much more appealing to her.  

She explains that she chose to be a teacher because “in the Philippines, a teacher is [considered to be] the noblest profession, and respect is very high for teachers.” 

What she enjoys most about being a teacher is that she gets to “learn every day,” and she enjoys learning from her students.

In her free time, Ms. Gonzales said that she likes cooking, watching movies, and singing and dancing, even though she claims not to be that good at singing or dancing. 

Ms. Gonzales has two sons back in the Philippines; one is in tenth grade and the other is in fifth grade. She hopes to be able to get her husband and sons to come to New Mexico soon.