Guillermo Vazquez  was one of the volunteer teachers who taught ESL in the afternoons. Three days a week he taught the Beginner’s ESL class while finishing a PhD in material science and engineering at Texas A&M. In Guillermo’s free time, he loves to play and listen to music. He plays the Guitar pretty well and is currently learning the piano. He also loves movies and owns some DVDs. He enjoys Fantasy and likes to read books like Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire. Guillermo is from Santiago de Querétaro, a city in central Mexico. There, he studied programming at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro and found a special interest in atomic simulations, which he researched and completed his undergraduate thesis on. Guillermo’s supervisor believed his work was important to the field of atomic simulations and recommended Guillermo apply to the grad school at Texas A&M. So, he saved money working as a web designer, completed his GRE, applied for a Visa, and applied for TAMU’s program. He did well on his GRE, made it into the program, got his Visa, and immigrated to the US.

Guillermo was a part of the Latinos Graduate Student Association, an organization for grad students who were Latino or who appreciated Latino culture, and this is how he found BIIN. Annie, director of BIIN, was also a member of this organization and had asked for his help. Guillermo, wanting to give back to the community, said yes and began his work as a Level One ESL teacher. The opportunity was perfect for him since he knows Spanish so well, allowing him to teach English effectively. While teaching the class took some time, he loved every second of it. He loved to meet all the people and hear their stories ranging from Cuba to Peru, to Venezuela. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they were all there for one goal: to learn English. Before he knew it, students became friends.

In the future, Guillermo wants to work in the private sector, while also continuing to do research, or wants to continue to work in academia. He really enjoys research and publishing, which allows him to meet other people doing cool and interesting research. Guillermo plans to graduate in August and wants to continue to stay in the States, provided he finds a job. Unfortunately, Guillermo won’t be able to teach in the Summer, since he has to go back to Mexico to resolve issues with his Visa, but he plans to continue working with BIIN in the future, specifically on Saturdays where he has started volunteering in  IRA. Guillermo loves the community and is happy that there is a place like BIIN where Latinos can help Latinos.