My father became a pharmacy technician while studying for his US equivalency exam, and my mother worked as a grocery store cashier while attending nursing school.

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While finishing up grad school for architecture, I was looking forward to building my professional career with real projects and clients.

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While extended school days can sometimes seem long, our mission in the quest for social justice, my students, their parents, and fellow teachers empower me to continue the struggle for educational equality for all students.

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While I wasn't especially bent on winning for my own sake, I was keenly aware that my family, school, hometown and the local sponsoring newspaper had invested an awful lot of time, cash and care into my trip to Washington, and I did not want to fail them.

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