When Valerie Arce first came to San Antonio, the young mother knew well the challenges of balancing work, education, and family. Two decades and two degrees later, the UTSA graduate has been appointed as the new principal at Timberwilde Elementary School. Arce, who has spent the last four years as vice principal at Cole Elementary, says she is excited to begin the new endeavor. Much of Arce's work at Cole focused on social and emotional learning, teaching children the skills needed to regulate their emotions, build relationships, and make decisions. Now, she says, she relishes the prospect of expanding those ideas to a new school and sharing her experience with others.
“I’m excited about my growth as a leader and the opportunity I have to grow other leaders [and] new people,” Arce said.
During her time as a teacher at Knowlton Elementary and vice principal at Cole, Arce has especially enjoyed working with the families in her school communities. She says her own experiences as a child and as a young parent allow her to empathize and connect with them.
“For me, it’s really just being able to relate my past experiences to the families I work with and seeing the reward that comes from those relationships.”
“Growing up, I experienced what it was like to be in a bilingual home, to be in a working-class family, with many challenges,” she said. “For me, it’s really just being able to relate my past experiences to the families I work with and seeing the reward that comes from those relationships.”
Beyond shared experiences, Arce’s experience as a bilingual teacher makes her especially valuable as an administrator. She says she regularly interacts with people who speak little to no English, and with whom she communicates in Spanish. Even if she encounters speakers of languages other than English and Spanish, Arce can rely on her English as a Second Language education to better communicate with them.
“Our job is solely focused on building relationships and it’s nearly impossible to do that if you can’t communicate with families,” she said. “And it’s not even just the language part of it, it’s also understanding the cultural piece, understanding where they come from, understanding the value of their traditions.”
But, for all the value that bilingual administrators provide their schools and communities, they are very much in the minority, says Patricia Sánchez, Ph.D., professor, and chair of the department of bicultural-bilingual studies.
“When you consider that NISD has 80 elementary schools and that only a handful of those schools’ principals are certified in bilingual education, this is a noteworthy accomplishment,” Sánchez said of Arce’s appointment.
Arce’s path to principal may be even more noteworthy, as it has been hampered both by the COVID-19 pandemic and the winter storm that struck Texas in February. For Arce, who considers her biggest strength to be building relationships with people, such limitations on physical interaction have been the most significant obstacles. But compounding on these limitations, have been the various delays that come with them.
“I think the most strenuous part of it is the waiting,” she said. “That’s the most grueling part because it’s emotional.”
But through all the struggles as a student to her eventual promotion to principal of an elementary school, Arce is forever grateful for those at UTSA, both in her graduate and undergraduate programs, who have helped her on her journey.
“I think the compassion that they had for somebody who had small children, and I think that working with people, the relationships they built, I feel like they made an impact on where I was going, and they made me believe I could do it."
“I think the compassion that they had for somebody who had small children, and I think that working with people, the relationships they built, I feel like they made an impact on where I was going, and they made me believe I could do it,” she said.
In turn, these experiences have shaped how she engages in her role as an administrator.
“I think that we sometimes don’t realize the impact that we make on people, and so for UTSA for me, I think some of those people maybe didn’t know the impact that they made on me, which is why I enjoy doing that for other people,” she said.
For more information, visit https://www.nisd.net/timberwilde/about