Dr. Stephanie Zarrasola says, "Smile! Tu dentista es bilingüe!"

Teachers often wonder aloud, or with other teachers, whatever became of this student or that. Most of the time we never know. So, on those rare occasions when we are able to fill the gap in the life of a student between, say, fifth grade and adulthood, it is often surprising and gratifying. That is certainly the case with Stephanie Zarrasola, whom I last saw as she left my 3rd-4th-5th grade dual-language classroom in May 2001 for middle school. What transpired over the next 24 years was nothing less than astonishing: enrollment in the program for gifted students in middle school; enrollment in AP courses in high school, where she graduated with honors; a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from McAlester College in St. Paul, MN, where she also minored in Biology and Art Studio; and a DDS degree from the Dental School at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Unfortunately, none of her academic experiences after elementary school included courses taught in Spanish, gifted and AP courses being programmatically incompatible with bilingual education in the school district. She currently practices dentistry in Albuquerque, where she and her colleagues and staff offer dental services in English and in Spanish. She is also the mother of a 9-month-old girl named Annel, and the husband of Alonso Quezada, one of the world’s few rollercoaster builders and repairers, who is currently making things safe and fun for a rollercoaster in Barcelona, Spain. Listen as we discuss all this and more with Dr. Stephanie Zarrasola. We also discuss simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism.