Jessica Magallanes Robles didn’t discover Escuela de Guadalupe by scrolling social media or touring a dozen schools. She first fell for Escuela years before she ever became a parent by watching someone she loved flourish within its walls.
It was her niece. Jessica remembers noticing how young she was and how confidently she was already reading and writing. Even then, Jessica made a decision: someday, my kids will go there.
Today, that long-held hope has become something even more surprising: Jessica’s daughter attends Escuela and Jessica teaches here, too!
Catholic and bilingual was non-negotiable
When Jessica talks about what she wanted for her children, she doesn’t speak in vague preferences. She’s specific, almost fierce, about what her family needed.
First: bilingual. For Jessica, bilingual education wasn’t about enrichment. It was about family. Her parents don’t speak English fluently, and neither do her in-laws. She wanted her children to communicate easily with their grandparents, to stay connected across generations without translation getting in the way.
Second: Catholic. Jessica describes faith as the foundation of her life. More than a value, it’s the order of her days. In her words: “God first, then family, then everything else.”
So when it was time to think about school for her own children, the vision was clear. A bilingual Catholic school wasn’t a “nice to have.” It was the goal. And there is only one dual-language Catholic school in Denver!
A calling that began in faith, then took the long way around
Long before Jessica stepped into a classroom as an educator, she sensed she was meant to teach.
As a student preparing for Confirmation, she was deeply impacted by her catechists, so much so that they eventually became her godparents. Their example shaped her faith and her future: she wanted to teach the Word of God the way they did. After Confirmation, she became a catechist herself and served in that role for 10 years.
Jessica also pursued elementary education in college, but had to take a break when life got complicated, and school got difficult. Still, the desire to teach never went away. She worked as a paraprofessional and loved being in a school setting, but the role didn’t provide what her family needed financially, especially when her husband changed direction and started trade school to become an electrician.
So Jessica did what many parents do: she chose stability for her family. She prayed for a job with reliable hours and solid pay. Not long after, she became an administrative assistant at a mental health clinic and stayed for seven years. She loved that job, and it helped make it possible for her husband to complete his apprenticeship and move forward in his career.
Even then, the thread kept tugging. Jessica once told her husband she assumed she’d return to teaching later, maybe even in retirement.
The school she prayed for, the job she didn’t expect
When Jessica’s oldest child, Isabel, was nearing school age, she didn’t wonder where her daughter should go. She already knew. She started researching tuition and timelines when Isabel was still very young, trusting that God would provide a way.
Isabel started at Escuela de Guadalupe before Jessica ever joined the staff. Jessica made it work while still at her previous job—drop-off in the morning, her husband on pick-up—until circumstances changed and she knew it was time to find something new.
Her first instinct was to apply at Escuela. She tried for a front office role and didn’t get it. But instead of letting that shut her down, Jessica framed it as timing. It just wasn’t her time yet. So she did what she always does: she prayed.
Then came the nudge that changed everything. A friend suggested she apply for a teacher assistant role. Jessica hesitated. She was convinced she wouldn’t get it.
And then she got the interview. And then she got the job.
Jessica started at Escuela de Guadalupe in October 2024, after the school year was already underway, and she still describes it as a miracle. She had dreamed for years that her children would attend Escuela. Now her daughter was here and Jessica was here, too, teaching. For Jessica, it didn’t feel like coincidence. It felt like God’s hand, responding to years of faithful, persistent prayer.
“This isn’t just assisting. It’s teaching.”
Ask Jessica what feels most special, and she doesn’t talk about convenience, though any working parent knows logistics matter. She talks about presence.
Being at Escuela means she’s close enough to see Isabel’s growth with her own eyes: what she’s mastering, where she’s struggling, how she learns best, and how Jessica can support her with clarity instead of guesswork. She loves that she can sit in on lessons, understand what Isabel is working on, and help in a way that’s truly aligned.
She also delights in seeing bilingualism unfold in real time. One day, Isabel surprised her by asking to read the English portion of a book then doing it successfully. Moments like that feel like evidence. This is working.
And one of the most important parts of Jessica’s story is how she describes her role now compared to her previous paraprofessional work. Before, the work often looked like support tasks—copies, grading, and the occasional small group. Here, she says, she truly teaches.
She gets to work with smaller groups, strengthen foundations in reading and writing, and help children learn skills in more than one way. She loves that students benefit from hearing the same concept taught with different styles, two educators reinforcing the same goal, side by side.
Jessica is quick to point out that she doesn’t do this work alone. She talks warmly about her teamwork with 1st/2nd grade English teacher Karina Acosta-Ferrera and the strength of the broader team, including 1st/2nd grade Spanish teacher Maribel Polo and 1st/2nd teacher assistant Maria Lozano-Hernandez. They lean on each other. They solve problems in real time. They share the weight of the day and the joy of the wins.
Teach in retirement? God had other plans.
When Jessica reflects on her path to Escuela de Guadalupe, she thinks about that time she told her husband she might want to teach in retirement. But, she now knows, God had other plans.
“You want to go back to teaching?” she says, laughing at the memory. “God was like, ‘I got you.’”
That is the heart of Jessica’s story: a mother who prayed for a bilingual Catholic education, a teacher who prayed for a chance to teach, and a woman who believes that her path was guided.
Now, every morning, she walks into the place she hoped for long before she had children. And she gets to live the answer to her own prayer, right alongside her daughter.
