2024 Keynote Speaker: Sarai Vaca
Inspirational Teacher, Mother, Survivor
It was in second grade when Sarai Vaca realized that she wanted to become a second grade teacher. It wasn’t until 14 years later that her dream of becoming a teacher would actually become real. Sarai comes from two hard working parents that taught her resilience, perseverance and a good work ethic. They taught her to never give up and that is why she is who she is today. Sarai started her teaching career in 2016 and has been teaching in a second grade dual immersion program since then. She started off working at the Orange County Educational Arts Academy in Santa Ana for the first four years of her teaching career and then moved to Pacific Drive Elementary to teach at the Fullerton School District where she currently teaches.
Sarai was born and raised in Santa Ana and attended all Santa Ana schools while growing up. She attended Santa Ana College where she met her amazing school counselor at the time, Steve Bautista. He helped guide her educational journey while she was at SAC before transferring to California State University of Fullerton. It was at Cal State Fullerton where Sarai received her Bachelor’s in Liberal Studies, her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, Master’s in Education and her Bilingual Authorization. She also met her husband of almost ten years there and they now have three beautiful children together. Sarai knew how hard it was for her parents to get to this country, which is why she persevered throughout her education in order to show them that their hard work was noticed and appreciated.
Not only has Sarai persevered in her educational journey, but she has shown great determination and perseverance in her personal life as well. In 2022 she received news that would change her life forever in a traumatic yet good way. She was diagnosed with breast cancer while being pregnant at six weeks with her third child. Sarai took almost a year of absence from her teaching career in order to attend to her health. While she was on leave, she received multiple surgeries and chemotherapy all while being pregnant. In February 2023, her beautiful daughter was born healthy. After this, Sarai was able to continue with radiation and one last surgery and she is now proud to say that she is a cancer survivor. While going through this journey, Sarai realized how blessed she truly is and how passionate she was about teaching. She missed being in the classroom and was eager to come back the following year. People see her and say they would “never assume” she went through such a thing due to her positive attitude and joyful personality. Sarai loves what she does more than anything and makes sure she instills that love into her classroom every day. She teaches her students that all things are possible and that a little effort goes a long way. Click here to learn more about Sarai's amazing story.
