Building The Foundation: Startup Classroom Supplies

The Description

After completing Teach for America’s - 2017 Miami-Dade Institute I will be responsible for my very own classroom! I can't wait to decorate and meet my students and their families. One of the biggest hurdles that students in high need schools face is a lack of the necessary materials that are needed daily. It makes it infinitely more difficult for students to take part in activities and classwork when they do not have basic supplies.

To get the year started off right, I will use the funds that I raise to purchase the startup supplies needed to welcome my students to a classroom that is clean and stocked full with materials. This will allow me to provide the required supplies to students that otherwise would not have them. I will also purchase copy paper to ensure that I can provide my students with high quality learning materials, whether that is exit tickets, independent activities, or homework. Thank you so much in advance for supporting me and my students at the beginning of this exciting journey.

Every dollar I receive will be put towards classroom supplies so anything you can contribute really will make a difference in our classroom. I want to make a great impression and a lasting impact on my first group of students and letting them know that they have a community that supports them both near and far will definitely get us on the right track. Here is a complete list of the materials that your generous investment will help provide for the students of my very first classroom:

Anything helps. While your investment helps me purchase the supplies, it is also providing for students in Liberty City and the greater Miami area to have access to the same materials that students at Tier 1 and private schools have access to. Education is the key to societal advancement, and that should include providing a quality education to ALL kids, including those at Title I/Tier 3 schools. Thank you for helping me invest in the future mathematicians and leaders of Miami, South Florida, and the U.S.A

Back Up Plan

If I do not meet my goal, I will purchase as many materials as possible. I will prioritize the materials that are most essential to students (pencils, paper, etc.) as they are the most important to ensuring that students can participate in daily lessons.

Fundraiser Updates (1)

Thank you!!!

August 30, 2017

To those who have invested, commented, and reached out to me personally:

I am so grateful for your generosity and support.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help in providing a warm and confident environment for my students this year.

Considering my success so far in this cause, I am increasing my goal in hopes that perhaps I can raise enough money to purchase a printer for the classroom as well.  If you can, please share the page with your friends and colleagues so that we can have a printer for the Miami Northwestern Math Department!  

All in all, I am amazed at the love and support I've received during this fundraiser, even just in the first couple days of its running.  Please reach out to me personally (avazquezbaur@gmail.com) if you would like to see/hear more about where this money is going specifically and more about my classroom, my students, and my new community here in Miami.

With love from Liberty City,

Alejandra Vazquez Baur

Comments (7)

Heather September 7, 2017

Proud to support you, TFA and women math teachers everywhere!

Matthew Chavez August 31, 2017

Proud to support such a worthy cause!

Rob Mead August 30, 2017

Donation made in memory of my mom, Mary Elizabeth Mead. She was a teacher and counselor in schools across Albuquerque and Tucson.

Pete and Tina August 30, 2017

Way to go Alejandra!!

Deborah Lee August 30, 2017

Alejandra,
Thank you for your dedication to the kids and our future. Clearly, the apple has not fallen far from the tree, as I've a great deal of respect and admiration for your father who also goes above and beyond for the better of our communities.
Much respect!
DL

Gaby Camarena August 30, 2017

Thank you Ale for making kids' life better, education should be affordable for everyone.

Ben August 28, 2017

So proud of you Ale, and can't wait to hear about the lives you will touch!

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About the Creator

I am so lucky and privileged to say that I've always had incredible educational models in my family. Both of my parents attended college and law school. My mother's older sister, my Tia Martha, was the first in our family to attend college and paved the path for law in our family, attending Notre Dame Law School (additionally a member of the first undergraduate class of women at Notre Dame) and later becoming one of the first prominent Latina federal judges in the United States. This feat was not overcome, however, without the understanding of what this meant for our family, her children, and other Latinas in the U.S. She knew she was afforded amazing luck and privilege to achieve what she did as the daughter of immigrants, one of five children, and an ESL student. She wrote her own story, but not without facing numerous challenges. This is the reality of many low-income, POC, immigrant and undocumented people in this country.

Education is the key to success - the "American Dream" - but historically it hasn't been so accessible to all. There are systems in place that limit some to the rights and benefits afforded by money and education, and these systems out-date our own Constitution - that which sets to ensure the "inalienable rights of every man [and woman]." I am so grateful for the values instilled in me by my parents and family to ensure that these rights are given to everyone. I, like they, am grateful for my education, recognize my privilege to be where I am now, and am humbled by our story and our beginnings.

Following my graduation from Claremont McKenna College in May, I joined Teach For America in the fight for equitable education for ALL children. Thus, I will be joining the Miami Northwestern Senior High School "Bulls" teaching high school mathematics to hundreds of brilliant and capable students who just need that one teacher to tell them, "yes you can." I hope to leverage my experience to encourage and empower my students of mostly marginalized identities and backgrounds so that they, too, can write their own stories and continue to change the system that limits our collective progress.

Investments (30)

$50

Heather Honegger

7 years ago

$52

Sharon Basso

7 years ago

$10

Anonymous

7 years ago

$21

Matthew Chavez

7 years ago

$100

Brian Fitzgerald

7 years ago

$100

Thomas M Clark

7 years ago

$52

Melinda Ching

7 years ago

$20

Scott Lane

7 years ago

$50

Anonymous

7 years ago

$25

Robert Mead

7 years ago

$30

Pete White

7 years ago

$26

Ramón Lovato

7 years ago

$52

Deborah Sorensen

7 years ago

$26

Joseph Walsh

7 years ago

$52

Gaby & Alfonso Camarena

7 years ago

$31

Frank Apodaca

7 years ago

$50

Theresa Duncan

7 years ago

$5

Jaclyn K Apodaca

7 years ago

$103

Georgann Harper

7 years ago

$10

Khadija Hassanali

7 years ago

$26

Samuel Jung

7 years ago

$35

Steven Hung

7 years ago

$25

Angelica Ferreira

7 years ago

$8

Amy Hollshwandner

7 years ago

$26

Ben Turner

7 years ago

$103

Russell Grelling

7 years ago

$52

Anonymous

7 years ago

$50

Nayantara Mullick

7 years ago

$50

Taylor Kain-Godoy

7 years ago

$52

Anonymous

7 years ago