Spanish teacher Janette Miranda-Santiago was born in New York, but her family moved back to Puerto Rico when she was 5. She spent her weekends and breaks at the beach, her favorite part about living on the island. She and her seven siblings celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and her favorite, Three Kings Day. At school, lessons were taught in Spanish, but books and materials were all in English. Even though her family spoke Spanish at home, she and other students had to find a way to adapt to the bilingualism that the school system enforced.

“I’m from New York, but I feel Puerto Rican,” Miranda-Santiago said. “I feel like I can bond with the Latino culture and the Hispanic culture, and it is a part of me. It’s like my soul.”

When she was younger, her family would visit New York to see her other family members. There, the reunion brought together aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it. Even now, they meet back in Puerto Rico to celebrate big holidays and reunite.

“We are so noisy,” she said. “My family is so big, and we use every single moment together to make a fiesta. And, sometimes, I feel like our life together is like a fiesta.”

These days, they all gather at the home she and her siblings grew up in, where her parents have lived all this time.

“It is an amazing experience going back because all my memories are a part of the structure and the town,” she said. “I have many neighbors that grew up with my parents, and many family members live nearby, so it is like going back with my memories. I really enjoy every single day I spend with my parents.”

Miranda-Santiago left her family home after high school when she moved to San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, to get a degree in business and finance with a minor in computer science at the University of Puerto Rico. Eventually, Miranda-Santiago pursued her Ph.D. in Tennessee and interned in the area but stumbled upon her love for teaching during an opportunity to lecture during a class.

“I realized that I really liked the role of teaching, collaborating and doing something [to give] back for all the blessings that I’ve received in my life,” she said.

Now, after all but one of her children have grown up and moved on to college and the professional world, she found a place to continue pursuing her love for teaching at McCallum.

“I fell in love with the teaching career,” Miranda-Santiago said. “Why not let me use my talents, let me use my experience? I’m so happy with it.”

As a teacher, she has been struck at times by the lack of knowledge most students have surrounding Puerto Rico, which has been a territory of the United States since 1898.

“Living on the mainland, we realized the importance of being a part of something, but sometimes I feel a part of nothing,” she said. “I feel sad sometimes when I realize that the United States schools do not help U.S. citizens to learn about their territories. They don’t know anything about Puerto Rico. They did not consider us a part of this process.”

If students ever need help on a project or have questions about Puerto Rico, Miranda-Santiago tries to help them understand it as best she can, so that maybe more mainland citizens will know the significance of where she grew up, the place that she calls her soul.

“It is part of my contribution to honor the history of my people on the mainland,” she said. “If I can contribute to spreading some facts and information, I am happy to do it. I can tell you it is sad when I think about it. I just try to spread my passion because at the end of the road, we are a part of the U.S., and they deserve to know that.”

At home, Miranda-Santiago continues to speak Spanish with her children, a way to keep the presence of Puerto Rico alive in her family.

“At least for my children I’ve always considered it important to keep the language and still feel love for the language,” she said. “When we are together, we speak Spanish, because it is part of our personality, it is part of our lives. I just want to provide my children with the opportunity to keep using it because language is alive, and it is something that if you don’t use it, you will lose it.”

As she awaits her next family reunion and fiesta in Puerto Rico, Miranda-Santiago continues to speak Spanish at home and always makes sure to eat foods from Puerto Rico. Her mother taught her how to make dishes like Puerto Rican lasagna, Chinese rice with a Puerto Rican touch and rice, beans and pork. If she can’t find the food she’s hoping for at Puerto Rican stores, she finds them at H-E-B and adjusts them to her liking.

Because for Miranda-Santiago, the connection to Puerto Rico comes from food, family and fiestas.

“If I don’t have my Puerto Rican touch in my kitchen, I don’t feel happy.”