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Mr. Agustin Lara
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Mr. Agustin Lara was born in the small farming town of Los Azulitos,
Jalisco in central Mexico. There in the rural area, where he lived with his parents
and eight siblings, there was no running water or electricity in the adobe house .
Looking to make a better way of life, Mr. Lara came to the United States at
the age of fifteen. He had to learn a new language and a new culture in his new
country. Once in Texas, he worked as a laborer earning $20 daily. Additionally,
he worked as a dishwasher, a construction worker, and a ranch helper. While
working as a janitor at the airport in Georgetown, Texas his supervisor
encouraged him to take English classes.
Once he completed his English classes, he enrolled at the American
Preparatory Institute in Killeen, Texas. The self-paced program was a program
designed to help nontraditional students earn a high school diploma. Once he
completed high school, Mr. Lara attended Central Texas College for two years.
He then transferred to Texas A&M University to study Agriculture. He obtained
his bachelor's degree in 199 and went on to obtain a master's degree in education
administration in 2004 from Sam Houston State University. Currently, Mr. Lara
is pursuing his doctorate degree at Texas A&M University in bilingual education.
Mr. Lara's employment experience includes working as Adult Probation
Officer in Brazos County for two years and as a Juvenile Detention Officer for
the Texas Youth Commission in Bryan, Texas for five years. Mr. Lara has been
working as a bilingual education teacher for the Bryan Independent School
District for thirteen years.
Mr. Lara is an advocate for children. He is the director and founder of a
youth ballet folklorico group. He founded the dance company in 1997 in order to
promote Mexican culture through dance and music and as a way to provide local
children the opportunity to do something positive after school. Currently, Ballet
Folkl6rico Los Altos de Jalisco has 35 members and they perform voluntarily an
average of 40 times per year at schools, churches, nursing homes, family events,
and multicultural events.
Moreover, Mr. Lara has studied and worked, voluntarily, in Mexico,
Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Germany, Russia, and China. Because of his
positive influence on children, students, and his community, Mr. Lara was
selected Teacher of the Year at Sam Houston State University in 2006, Hispanic
Person of the Year in 2006, and in 2008 he received the Friend of the Children
award presented by Voices for Children.