Jesely Alvarez
M.A.Ed. with Graduate Teacher Preparation, 2001
 If you ask Jesely Alvarez why she chose Antioch Seattle, she'll say it had much to do with the university's clear commitment to social justice.
Before she came to Antioch, Alvarez was a teaching fellow for The Multicultural Alliance, a San Francisco organization that partnered with Americorps and school districts throughout the country to actively promote people of color entering the teaching field.
"Antioch shared in the vision of The Multicultural Alliance and offered a program that worked with both the demands of the teaching fellowship and teacher certification," she says.
"The value of my education at Antioch can be measured by the fact that even years after my graduation, I am an active part of the social justice movement both professionally and locally."
Her best memory of Antioch? She describes her cohort experience in preparation for teacher certification. "The emphasis on learning cooperatively allowed me to have academic support from my peers and faculty while being part of a learning community," says Alvarez, now an assistant principle in the Renton school district.
"As a result of my Antioch experience, I constantly look at the world through the lenses of social justice," she says.
Community involvement continues to be a vital part of Alvarez's life. "It may be something as simple as providing a safe place for students in my classroom after school for tutoring, or in helping to organize a Spanish language open house for Spanish-speaking families. Antioch played a role in developing my desire to be part of that kind of community activism.
"The value of my education at Antioch can be measured by the fact that even years after my graduation, I am an active part of the social justice movement both professionally and locally," she says.
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