When she was a little girl growing up in Habersham County, Jobana Campos recalls noticing that there were not many teachers that looked like her and shared in her culture teaching at Baldwin Elementary.
Now 23, Campos decided to take that matter into her own hands by returning to teach in the same hallways that saw her grow up and serve as a model for younger generations.
“It’s been my dream to work here. The teachers that taught me, because of them, and coming back to my community. I want to support them the way that they supported me when I was younger and I want to do that for the students here in my community,” Campos said. “I might not know them personally but I know where they are coming from. It is the same place I came from so I feel like we have that connection that I want to build on too.”
Born to Mexican parents from Guanajuato, Mexico, Campos said growing up in Baldwin as a first-generation Mexican-American was difficult.
“From what I remember, it was difficult being Hispanic and first-generation,” Campos said. “Being the older daughter, I saw my parents really struggle with helping me in school because they themselves didn’t know any English.”
As a kindergarten student, Campos and her family found support in a teacher who encouraged her, giving her motivation to keep up with her studies even at a young age. Still, Campos said as a child it was hard to imagine herself as a teacher because she didn’t have anyone who looked like her to relate to.
“It was hard thinking I could be a teacher because all the teachers here were white like in most schools,” Campos said. “It was difficult to see myself as a teacher because there were no Hispanic teachers.”
Campos also struggled to do her homework without parental help, despite their best efforts, due to the language barrier, often having to try to turn to older cousins for help. As she grew up, Campos entered a parent-teacher mode for her three younger siblings, a situation that is far too common for first-generation students from different backgrounds.
In high school, Campos said she also shared in other common first-generation experiences, such as not being able to participate a lot in extracurricular activities while at Habersham Central High School due to having the responsibility of taking care of her younger siblings while her parents worked.
“I didn’t get to participate in many clubs because I didn’t have anyone to take me, that was another challenge, not being able to participate in activities because my parents always worked and I see that now happening with my students and I wish I could do it for them but I have 60 students so I can’t,” Campos said. “You have to take it, we get a lot of the responsibility.”
A combination of her life experiences led her to what she refers to as her “calling.”
“As the older daughter I taught my siblings,” Campos said. “I like to teach, I like to be that mentor for them and that has kept me in the mindset of wanting to teach…but I knew I wanted to be a teacher but I just couldn’t see myself as one.”
After attending UNG for teaching, Campos completed her associate’s degree and then decided to pursue a cosmetology degree. During her time off from pursuing teaching, Campos said she was able to gain perspective on what she really wanted to pursue.
“I realized that I was good enough to teach and I started seeing that value in myself and decided to go for it,” Campos said. “I think those two years really helped me get myself [in the mindset] of ‘I can teach, regardless of my color, regardless of my language, I can still teach these students and represent Hispanics’.”
Campos graduated from UNG with a double major in Elementary and Special Education on May 7.
As part of her curriculum, Campos had to student-teach for two years, which she said prepared her to have her own classroom.
“It was a great experience, I would see the teachers and think how much I wanted to be up there, to be teaching,” Campos said, adding that she loves teaching elementary grade children.
“I love working with kids. I feel like that is the age where you can help them mold themselves. Just loving them.”
Campos will be getting her shot this upcoming school year as she accepted a position at Baldwin Elementary as a first-grade teacher, fulfilling her dream of returning to Habersham County schools.
Campos hopes her future students will be able to see themselves in her and build a relationship where she can encourage them in their studies. Realizing the growing Hispanic population in the county, Campos said it is important to have representation and diversity amongst teachers.
“I think it’s good because I am able to speak with them, I am able to translate, and my main thing is communicating with parents,” Campos said. “I know my parents struggled to communicate with teachers. I am open, I am here to work with the parents, even if they are not my students, even if they aren’t my kids, they are our kids.”
Ready to inspire the next generation of Hispanic teachers, Campos hopes she continues to see others decide to become teachers and pave the way for the Hispanic community to continue to thrive in Habersham County.
“There needs to be more. There needs to be more cultural awareness. Classes and schools are missing out on making their students feel valued and part of the community,” Campos said. “That is what I am excited about in my classroom- creating activities, [having books] where kids see themselves. I think it just comes with our perspective as Hispanics and bringing that into the classroom.”