Arco Iris Spanish Immersion School is proud that our team of educators hails from a variety of Spanish speaking countries around the world, helping us to cultivate a true multicultural setting for our students to learn Spanish. Our Operations Manager, Perla Murphy, comes from the Dominican Republic, and brings with her a depth of knowledge and experience that can’t be matched. Read on to learn more about our dynamic team member.
When did you know you wanted to be an educator?
I knew I wanted to be an educator about a year after I started working at Arco Iris. When I was hired, I was going to school for software engineering. It’s what I knew I wanted to do from a young age. After spending a year working at Arco Iris, I realized I had a talent and a passion for this field.
Who was your favorite teacher and why?
My middle school math teacher. I could tell she was passionate about her profession and about math. I loved the way she taught math because it emphasized both the skill and the reason behind it. Every math assignment felt like a short essay because we had to show our work and explain in words the reason behind every step. It was fascinating to see math taught in this way because it wasn’t what I had experienced previously or after that. It inspired me to want to learn more about mathematics in general. To this day math is one of my favorite subjects.
How does the Arco Iris' mission and vision align with your personal values?
Biliteracy and biculturalism are of the utmost importance to me as someone who comes from a Spanish speaking country and was taught English in an immersion program. My entire educational life from Kinder to College, from Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico to Oregon, has been about cultivating academic success through biliterate education while being a part of a multicultural community. At every stage of my life, diversity, equity and inclusion have been a priority because of my cultural identity. It's fair to say the mission and vision align perfectly with my personal values.
What do you love most about your role at Arco Iris?
Everyday comes with a new challenge and learning opportunity, even though I’ve been here for a long time.
What else would you like us to know about YOU?
As an immigrant to Oregon, I consider myself lucky to have found a community of like minded individuals at Arco Iris where I can learn, grow, and thrive.
Thank you, Perla, for enriching our school community with your skill and dedication to bilingual education. Arco Iris has a few spots available for Fall 2023. If you are interested in joining our tuition-free K-5 Spanish immersion school, visit our enrollment page to get started.
About Arco Iris
Arco Iris Spanish Immersion is a small tuition-free public charter school providing a rich, immersive Spanish language experience and robust academics in a true multicultural setting. Centrally located off 217, between SW Portland and Tigard, we serve K-5 students in the greater Beaverton area to become bilingual and biliterate leaders of the future. Come see why we’ve earned the title Oregon’s #1 charter school. We’re enrolling for Fall 2023-24.