"Education is a journey that begins in the classroom
but continues throughout life."
Catherine Pulsifer

Astrid Katernine Suárez Parra always dreamed of becoming a teacher.

Her mother recalls that, from a very young age, she would wear her kitchen apron and carefully arrange her dolls to teach them lessons on different subjects. Using a chalkboard, she took notes, planned activities, and shared everything she was learning at school. As the years went by, her dream grew stronger. Thanks to the training she received at the Normal Superior de María in the municipality of Rionegro, it began to come true.

Her first job was at Colegio Campestre El Maestro, where she fell in love with the profession. The bond and shared responsibility with children and their families—the threads woven between students and teachers—and the realization that school is much more than a place to learn math confirmed that this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Today, 20 years later, she is a teacher at Institución Educativa Rural Chaparral in the municipality of San Vicente Ferrer. For Astrid, the best part of being a teacher is the opportunity to connect daily and directly with the human spirit. To offer not only lessons, but words of encouragement. To help students see life from a different perspective. To inspire them to believe they deserve a bright future. To convince them that education is worth pursuing and that it leads to a meaningful life project.

In conversation, she fondly remembers her math teacher, Belquis Londoño: "She was an inspiration to me. Today, I would like to tell her that some students carry her in their hearts. I didn’t just learn numbers from her. I also learned about high standards, service, humility, and love."

Astrid is one of the 2,500 teachers who are part of the educational institutions supported by Fraternidad Medellín. Teachers who bring with them backpacks full of knowledge, patience, empathy, humanity, service, love, discipline, and integrity.

Today, at Fraternidad Medellín, we want to pay special tribute to all of them and say: Thank you! Your work elevates our mission and fills the present and future of every child, youth, and adult whose life you touch with hope.