Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Zaragoza
Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Dr. Gabriel Zaragoza and I am a child of immigrants. My parents came from Mexico for a better life as many did in the 70s and 80s. I was born in Riverside, California and my parents moved across country in 1991 to Georgia for work. Along the way, my parents worked the grape and apple fields as we moved from the West Coast to the South. I grew up in Grant Park, Atlanta, Georgia. For high school, we moved to Forest Park, Georgia where I excelled in academics, fine arts, and student organizations. I attended the University of Georgia where I was a founding brother of the UGA Gamma Epsilon chapter of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. with three other outstanding men. During my time at UGA, I focused on supporting the community and attained my bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and a minor in Spanish. Ultimately, I decided to join Teach For America. From 2010 to 2012, I was a bilingual third grade teacher and administrator at Clayton County Public Schools Unidos Dual Language Charter School until accepting a job as an assistant principal at Baldwin Elementary in 2016 in Gwinnett County Public Schools in the Norcross Cluster. At Baldwin, I helped launch the dual language program. I also received a Master’s degree in Urban Teacher Leadership from Georgia State University, and a Specialist’s degree in Educational Leadership from Kennesaw State University. In the spring of 2023, I completed my PhD program at Mercer University and received his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership. In 2019, I was appointed principal at Hopkins Elementary in the Berkmar Cluster. During my time as principal, we have opened a general education Pre K program, started Computer Science and Spanish classes for all grades, and started a dual language immersion program. I have presented on English Language Acquisition strategies at several conferences in Georgia and Puerto Rico. As principal of Hopkins Elementary, my goal is to place a strong emphasis on academics, while using my skills and expertise to support students, families, school staff, and the community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a child of immigrants, the college journey was quite difficult. My parents always instilled in me values of hard work and determination. Throughout high school I held a part-time job while balancing school work, clubs, and fine arts. As I approached my junior year of high school, I had to figure out how to take the SAT and apply for colleges. Fortunately, I had an amazing counselor, Mark Genwright, and an orchestra teacher, Janalyn Lindley, who help guide me in searching for scholarships and opportunities to help me attain my goals. As I transitioned from high school to college, I had to make several phone calls to mentors and college administrative staff to learn how to sign up for the basics. My parents supported me through my ambition to go to college because neither of them finished high school. I had to figure out college life on my own, but fortunately I did not let any obstacle keep me from being successful. Going to the University of Georgia was an amazing experience, but it was a culture shock. I did not find many peers who came from similar cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds like myself. Through this experience I learned more about the assets I had brought from my family and leaned on my own identity to be self-fulfilled and celebrate all who I am and who I represented. I was also motivated to help others like me and serve as a mentor so I attained a job as a student worker in the community and leadership outreach departments of UGA, the Fanning Institute, where I supported high school students in learning about post-secondary options through various programs.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am currently the principal of Hopkins Elementary School in Gwinnett County Public Schools. This is now my fifth year as principal and during my time here we have opened a general education Pre K program, started computer science and Spanish classes for all grades, and started a Spanish dual language immersion program. I have led our Berkmar Cluster schools in professional development regarding Instructional Conversations to support English Language Acquisition. Our school is predominately Hispanic with 85% of over 1100 students in grades Pre K through Fifth, with 70% of students who are served with English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs, with the prominent language being Spanish. I have presented at several conferences in Georgia and Puerto Rico about English Language Acquisition strategies for students to produce language. At Hopkins Elementary, we plan intentionally with our teachers to support language development in all curriculum areas. We also develop strong partnerships with our community. We have now for the second year in a row hosted our annual Family Fall Festival at Plaza Las Americas, a local venue that attracts all community members. This is significant because it represents how our school is intertwined with community and business partners to support all of our students in the classroom. Our community believes in our school and supports us in all initiatives. Our school has also made significant strides academically in growth for reading, mathematics, and science.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
As principal my job is to move the school forward to be better than the day before. Our school has a long history of amazing success, so over the course of my time here, we have opened new programs to help our students be future-ready and world-class. Our Pre K, Computer Science, Spanish Classes, and Spanish Dual Language Immersion programs are relatively new, but our school community could not be more excited! Our instructional practices have also improved by implementing collaborative learning teams in our school to help our teachers learn from each other and implement highly effective lessons daily to all students with a multilingual learner lens. If I wanted, I could have continued the practices that were in place, but in order to keep students first, I have to take risks to improve our instructional practices and programs to meet the needs of all of our learners. If it were not for risk-taking, then our students would be underserved, and we truly believe our students are the BEST and deserve a high-quality school experience regardless of background.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hopkinses.gcpsk12.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopkins_es/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HopkinsES/
