Before Ms. Nicole Shabazz came to teach Math at Armijo ten years ago, she was a Fiberoptic Engineer working on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. “Teaching was always my original plan, but I got sidetracked along the way,” she said.

The interruption of COVID-19 was another deviation from her original plan. “Distance Learning was not ideal,” Ms. Shabazz said. “It is very difficult to teach and learn math online.”

She was first introduced to the idea of teaching when she was in sixth grade. Then, she discovered high school math as a student at Eisenhower High School in Rialto and went on to earn her degree at UC Davis. Now, not only is she a devoted Armijo Royal, but she is also a wife and mother of two girls, ages 19 and 24.

When she is not busy at work, she loves to travel, mostly to Spanish-speaking countries “to improve my Spanish,” she said. Also, “I love movies, so pre-COVID I probably went to the theater every weekend.” She finds peace in crocheting, too. “It’s very therapeutic.”

Ms. Shabazz uses these hobbies to find her balance in life, but for those who are considering the career, she encourages them to find their balance within the classroom too. “You will need to figure out how to build rapport with your students,” she said, “but also make sure that they are learning.”