"I Will Work to Give Back to the Community Even More Than It Has Given Me”

Luis Garcia Angeles MAT ‘22 knows the lives many of his future students have lived.

A first-generation college student, Garcia Angeles started his life in a farming community in Mexico. When he was 9, he moved with his family — his “amazing parents who have only a third- and sixth-grade education” — to Oregon, where he started fourth grade as an English language learner.

Now, as the first in his family to attend and graduate college, he is pursuing his master of arts in teaching at Pacific, planning to work at a Title I school in or near Hillsboro.

“My zeal for education makes me a great candidate to be in a position to influence a change on the cyclical trend of generational poverty among Latinos and other minorities,” he said. “I have lived in this area since I immigrated to the States, and I will work to give back to the community even more than it has given me.”

Seeking a master’s program in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia Angeles wanted to be sure he could be successful in meeting that goal.

“The faculty in my program have been doing a hybrid format pre-COVID-19, which to me meant that they already had experience with distance learning.”

He is completing his MAT in general education through the Forest Grove-based hybrid program, studying online with occasional on-campus weekend classes. The same program is available as a hybrid program based on Eugene, as well as in full-time in-person formats (in normal years) in Forest Grove and Eugene.