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Margie Rodriguez
Spotlight on Margie Rodriguez
Margie Rodriguez
Meet Margie Rodriguez of Monroe, Wash. and member of the Class of 1999 and 2004. Rodriguez serves as the Assistant Principal of Frank Wagner Elementary School in the Monroe Public School District and a Monroe City Council member. She shares her Hispanic heritage, El Paso childhood and her CityU experience with Velocity. Here’s her story.
Margie Rodriguez grew up in a border town speaking two languages, easily switching from English in the classroom to Spanish around the family dinner table. When she became a teacher in Texas, school district leaders discouraged her from speaking Spanish with students.
“I never thought it was an asset,” says Rodriguez of being bilingual. “When I came up (here) to Washington they were so excited that I could speak Spanish.”
In 1997 Rodriguez settled into a teaching position in the Mount Vernon School District. A few coworkers, also City University of Seattle alumni, encouraged her to enroll in the Education Leadership program.
“When I started hearing more about it and learning how easy it was to take classes on weekends…CityU was the place to go,” said Rodriguez, who found a mentor in faculty member Mike Weatherbie, the former Monroe High School principal.
Rodriguez went onto earn CityU degrees in the Master in Educational Technology Program in 1999 and the Principal Certification in 2004.
She credits Weatherbie for helping her secure a job interview for the Monroe High School’s assistant vice principal role. Rodriguez’s Spanish fluency helped her trounce the competition.
“He has been like my guardian angel,” she says of Weatherbie.
Today Rodriguez, now a National Certified Board teacher and CityU faculty member, serves Monroe’s growing Latino community as Frank Wagner Elementary’s Assistant Principal. About 200 of her 690 students are Latino, many with parents who don’t speak English, she says.
She also represents Latinos along with her respective district as a Monroe City Councilperson. She’s the first Hispanic to win a Monroe council seat.
Says Rodriguez, “I think I have nurtured my culture more here in Washington than I did in Texas. I respect my culture a lot more here.”