‘My soul is this place’: The inspiring story behind Puyallup’s educator of the year

PUYALLUP, Wash. — Angela Arteaga spends her days with some of the Puyallup School District’s littlest learners.

“It is such a blessing, I love it,” says Arteaga.

To her kindergarten and first-grade students, she’s Miss Angela.

“I always tell them, don’t stop learning. Learning is fun. And learning is for everybody,” says Arteaga.

Originally from Colombia, she and her family moved to Puyallup in 2011. English was their second language; a language her young son struggled with at school.

“One day he came and said, ‘Mom, nobody understands what I’m saying,’” recalls Arteaga. “And of course I came to tears too.”

“I didn’t know how to help him with the most simple homework,” she added.

So she began to volunteer at his elementary school, coming to class with her son every day. She was helping him learn and learning herself, too.

“As a 33, 35, 36-year-old lady learning the days of the week, months of the year in English through kindergarten songs, it was beautiful,” says Arteaga.

The more she learned, the more she loved being in the classroom. And so, she continued to volunteer until 2022, when she earned her teaching degree.

She then returned to a first-grade classroom in Puyallup’s Kessler Center. Now, she has students of her own.

“I have so much passion for this,” says Arteaga.

Others have recognized that passion, nominating her for the Puyallup School District’s Elementary Educator of the Year, which she won! Arteaga tells KIRO 7 that the district has helped change her life.

“I feel so grateful and thankful that I have been able to show my passion, my soul is this place,” she reflected.

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