Guiomar Peran-Swartz

Growing up in a family of educators herself, first-year Spanish teacher Guiomar Peran-Swartz has continued her family’s tradition of teaching, except she is nearly 5,000 miles away from her native Spain. Though she went to college in her hometown at the Complutense University of Madrid, she decided to move to across the Atlantic to America soon after she graduated. This past summer she went back to Spain and traveled all across the Mediterranean coast.

How would you say the school you went to and the high school compare?

Oh my God, big difference. My school back in the day had no bullying laws. So pretty much walking into school was like a war. Everyone got bullied, and it was strict, but when it came to people’s rights and human rights, it wasn’t very strong.

When did you move to the United States?

I moved to the United States right after college, and I went to school I guess to be a teacher like my father, my sister, and my brother, but I had a little… existential crisis and I wanted to explore the world. So I knew I had a second cousin here, so I called her, came to learn English, and met my husband two years after.

What would you say your favorite part about teaching is?

I love kids. I come from a big family with nine kids, four brothers and five sisters, so to me, it’s going back to how I grew up – loud, lots of interactions, lots of activities. It makes me feel connected to that.

When exactly would you say you knew you wanted to be a teacher?

I kind of always knew it. I went to college for teaching, but I wanted to be a business owner too. So I wanted to do both things. And in a way, they are connected. When you’re a business owner you have employees, you have to teach them too. I did different things. I sold high-end jewelry, fancy jewelry, and then my husband and I opened a franchise. [We sold] healthy produce, like protein shakes, green shakes, pre-workout and after-workout. So it was fun, a lot of work and a learning experience.