Achieving a master’s degree is not an easy task that everyone can do. It takes a lot of dedication to strive for that excellence. We have a few teachers here at Bowie who have that honor in saying they have, or will have, a master’s degree. The Growler caught up with the teachers to find out what it took for them to go that extra mile and what they experienced.

Jenny Patino

Ms. Jenny Patino, English Teacher

“I feel kinda old when I come on campus, really exciting because in the grad school, there’s a lot of international students, other people from other places learn new things. Graduate work is so much harder than undergraduate work. There’s no more memorizing things. It’s more of like working on big projects together with a team. I mean, it’s exciting, really neat.

I schedule everything. I have an alarm to go to sleep, to go to the gym. I have an alarm that tells me everything, cause if i don’t. the minute i forget to do something, then it just piles on, and it’s terrible. And I have to be very careful on how I plan my time and very thoughtful on how I do that.

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It can make difference in the world and in the way that they see the world.

— Patino

Dr. Warmack [former Bowie principal] recommended me for a program that pays for everything, so school is completely free for me as long as I keep my GPA above a 3.5. I’m ready for bigger and better things. I’m ready to move to Dual Credit English for a while.

If I knew grad school was this great, I would’ve done it a long time ago, and now, I’m thinking about pushing my students to consider the option of grad school and finishing with their bachelors. It can make difference in the world and in the way that they see the world.”

Candelario Barragan

Mr. Candelario Barragan, Math Teacher

“It feels great, you know. I’m always talking to the students: stay in school, go to school, get educated, but you don’t want to reach a point where you… don’t grow. I went back about 2 and half years ago. I’m almost done. I’ll be done in May with my Masters, and so, I’m very happy, very excited. Very difficult, but very rewarding.

GEEZ, I get out of here, I go pick up my son, I take him home about 10 minutes, I spend time at home eating snacks, and I go to my class, starts at 5. I don’t get out ’til 8:30, so it’s difficult. It’s Monday through Thursday, but you have to manage. You have to learn to say ‘I have this much time, and this is what I’m going to do in that time.'”

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Go back, get your masters, grow.

— Barragan

Two things I wanted: to grow professionally and kinda each the peak. I needed something to kinda get me started again.” Barragan said he wants to “teach Dual credit classes here at Bowie High School. I want to be able to teach some of the upper echelon classes in UTEP like calculus 2, 3.”

“Stay in school, go back to school i’m already encouraging my student to go back to school. Go back, get your masters, grow.”

Robert Padilla

Robert Padilla, Football Head Coach

“I think it’s very challenging. I was very fortunate, having a lot of support from my wife and kids and my family, people here at work. It was very challenging and very rewarding.

Well, I kinda got into the habit of working late at night. Once we would get done with practice and work, and I go home and do homework with my kids then put them to bed and stay up and do all of the work. Probably from about 9, 10 o’clock to about midnight every night.

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You know, if I was able to do it, I think anyone can do it.

— Robert Padilla

It was always a goal to get my masters. I kinda put it off and put it off. You know, I’ve already been working 20 years with the school district, so I figured if I was ever gonna do it, I have to do it now or else I’ll never do it. It’s a great feeling to be able to say that I have my masters, and I think anyone from Bowie, we can do it from anywhere. You know, if I was able to do it, I think anyone can do it. “