When he left the beaches of Barranquilla, Colombia, to come to the United States on a permanent-resident visa, Juan Suarez Romero knew that he could get a good education.

Now that he’s graduating with a degree in secondary education/Spanish, he’s hoping to be able to give someone else a good education as either a teacher or a librarian.

Spurred by a stint as a kindergarten teacher in Colombia and the enjoyment he got from it, Romero came to the United States three years ago hoping to get a degree in education. Once he came to Philadelphia, he began studies at the Community College of Philadelphia.

While his English skills were good enough to hold conversations, they wasn’t quite ready for higher education, so he spent some of his time rectifying that, he said.

“I enrolled in the [English as a Second Language] program at Community College of Philadelphia,” he said.

“It took me a year to learn English well enough to start an undergraduate program. I mentioned that I wanted to be an educator, so my advisor recommended Temple’s College of Education.”

Once he got to Temple, however, he still faced challenges. First, the class schedules were a little less flexible than at CCP, causing him to have to quit his job at a window factory. Second, he still had to negotiate the language barrier, necessitating another language class.

The third challenge, loneliness, wasn’t something that changing jobs or taking classes would overcome. That would require people skills.

“I felt uneasy being the only Latino student in some classes, or the only Spanish major in my education classes,” he said. “However, this pushed me to make new friends and explore other people’s backgrounds.”

Once he started connecting with his fellow students, a whole new world opened up to him, Romero said.

“I enjoyed life on campus,” he said. “There were lectures, workshops, parties and food. I was surprised that every event at Temple offered free food. It was a cultural shock for me in a positive way.”

He ended up excelling academically, earning two semesters on the Dean’s List, as well as socially, going to parties and falling in love with Temple’s women’s basketball and soccer teams.

“Temple made me realize that college in America is more than just an academic experience; it’s a life experience,” he said.

The university also encouraged his love of teaching. He became a student teacher and was an intern at the Free Library of Philadelphia and learned two things: The first is that there is more than one thing that you can do with a degree in education; The second is that in order to be a good teacher, you have to know the nuances.

“Anyone can teach from bell to bell,” he said. “But not everyone can be a great teacher.”

Right now, Romero is looking for a place to apply his degree.

But now that classes are over, he’ll be taking his degree and heading back to Barranquilla to visit a place that he hasn’t seen in awhile, Romero said.

“I’m going to the beach,” he said. “The last time that I went to the beach was Sept. 1, 2005.”