Tuesday, February 18, 2025

San Pedro teachers Pedro Garcia and Roberto Canche graduate with Master’s Degrees in Education Leadership

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Pedro Garcia and his colleague, Roberto Canche, are dedicated teachers in San Pedro Town who have successfully earned a master’s degree in education leadership from the University of Texas Permian Basin. They are excited to share their accomplishment with their island community and are committed to using their new skills to continue guiding their students effectively.

Pedro Garcia
Photo courtesy of Pablo Garcia

Garcia teaches mathematics and physics at San Pedro High School (SPHS) and is also an adjunct lecturer at San Pedro Junior College (SPJC), where he teaches mathematics, statistics, and algebra. Additionally, he instructs third and fourth-grade classes at San Pedro Adult and Continuing Education, helping students complete their high school studies. Meanwhile, Canche heads the tourism department at SPJC, where he teaches all tourism courses and intermediate accounting. He also serves as the Assistant Dean.
Garcia shared with The Sun that the studies were online, posing a challenge as he maneuvered through his three teaching posts. “It was a challenge managing work and studies simultaneously, starting working at 7AM and finishing after 10PM,” he said. “I want to encourage anyone who wants to further their studies to do it; it is not impossible. It may be difficult, but it is all about compromising. I think that the more equipped you are to serve in a classroom and others, the better as education in Belize is becoming different and we need to prepare ourselves.” Garcia mentioned that he and Canche were able to take advantage of this opportunity through the Consortium for Belize Education Cooperation (COBEC), a partnership with educational institutions in the United States. The SPJC is part of this collaboration, which assisted him with the university application process. The chance to enroll in this online master’s program lasted over two years and was not funded by a scholarship, which posed an additional financial challenge. Garcia said they had to rely on student loans and some donations. Garcia plans to further his studies, but for now, he wants to share his new knowledge with the students.

Roberto Canche

As for Canche, he shared that the experience was intense, but the courses were all related to the daily operation of running a school. “It was not limited only to the theoretical aspect, but it also had components where you were directly involved in taking leadership roles in close supervision with the current Dean,” he said. Canche added that for every experience, they were required to write reflection papers about the experiences.
Canche plans to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for SPJC, allowing them to introduce new programs. This will entail thoroughly modifying current programs to make them more relevant to today’s workforce. Garcia and Canche traveled to Odessa, Texas, for their graduation on December 14th.
The island teachers are very grateful for the opportunity and thank everyone who supported them. Canche and Garcia acknowledged former SPJC’s Dean Gustavo Ellis and current Dean Paul Kelly for all their support. Canche also thanked his family and friends for being there for him.
Garcia thanked both administrations at SPJC and SPHS, teachers, and faculty members, Dr. Wes Hickey in Texas and an instrumental link to COBEC, Belizean educator at the University of Texas Permian Basin, Dr. Ethel Arzu. Garcia also thanked his family and friends. Garcia holds an associate’s degree in business management from SPJC, an associate’s degree in chemistry from Belize Adventist Junior College, a bachelor’s in mathematics education from the University of Belize, and a master’s degree in education leadership from the University of Texas Permian Basin.

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