Olivia Womack is a Spanish Professor at the University of Wyoming who is working on a Masters in Spanish.
She grew up in Mexico and when she was fifteen years old, she finished her schooling with a middle school education. She was discouraged by her father to continue going to school because he had the belief of women staying at home and being homemakers.
“I really wanted to go to the next level which is high school and my dad didn’t support that. They didn’t let me go to school,” she said.
She began working a full time job at the age of fifteen. Once she moved to the United States, she was determined to go back to school.
“[It took] more than 10 times trying to learn English for adult education. ESL allocation in English. I quit more than 10 times because I thought it was hard to learn another language and finally the last time I said ‘I am going to learn how to speak English.’ And I did, but it was a process of two years.”
23 years ago, she moved from California to Wyoming. She did not have a GED and the only job she could get was working in the hospital cafeteria.
“I worked there for almost three years. And I was kind of getting tired of just you know being over there and not being there and not getting a raise. Not having an opportunity to level up. It was for two and a half almost three and the same level, same salaries, same everything and I was tired. I said I want to get a better job. So I quit.”
Afterwards, she decided to go to Casper college and get her GED so she would have an opportunity for a better job.
“So I got my GED. I was so excited. But then I realize and I will find out that with the GED you can work only in McDonald’s and Taco Bell and Starbucks for $11 an hour. Then I was like, ‘Now I want to do more.’”
Womack had always wanted to work in the school district and had an opportunity to do so when her local school district was looking for para educators for Spanish.
“It was a newspaper ad, they were hiring native Spanish speakers for a program in their school district in the whole state. In Casper, they needed people to teach Spanish as para educators,” Womack said.
“I always wanted to work in the school district because I knew that they had really good benefits. They had pensions. They pay you good. On top of that. The most important thing for me was that I always wanted to work there but I couldn’t because I didn’t have a GED or high school diploma.”
She was discouraged at first because everyone applying were doctors, lawyers, and other people with a higher education. At this time Olivia was still working on getting her GED. She was worried she wouldn’t get the job but continued with her interview anyways.
“Everybody had a career and I didn’t. I was trying to finish high school. My high school GED I was almost at the end of finishing the GED program. When I found out everybody had a career and I didn’t, I just wanted to leave. They have an education and I don’t.”
She ended up getting the job because she was the only one who could speak English and finished her GED. She stayed working with the school for six years teaching Spanish.
Realizing how much she loved teaching she decided to go back to school and pursue a degree in teaching. She got her associates first and found out she could only be a TA and it could be for any class, not just spanish.
She then went back to school to get her bachelors and pursue her degree. Afterwards she began teaching high school, middle school and elementary school. Soon thereafter, Womack got an email from the University of Wyoming with a job offer. Jumping at the opportunity, Womack is now both teaching and pursuing her masters in Spanish literacy.
