Pace teacher achieves her dream of a doctoral degree

Upon having her Masters degree, De la Vega’s biggest educational dream and goal was still to obtain her Doctorate in Education. Throughout the coming years, De la Vega worked to complete her doctoral coursework and dissertation. Meanwhile, she got married, had children, and continued to work full time. 

She remembers, “Every time I wanted to walk away from this seemingly endless endeavor, I kept going back to that dream I had of who I wanted to be and what I wanted to achieve.” 

With a great deal of dedication as well as love and support from her family, she continued to push toward her goal. This June, De la Vega achieved her dream and became a Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership with a minor in Curriculum and Design from Nova Southeastern University. 

This will be De la Vega’s 19th year working for the Archdiocese of Miami as a Catholic educator and as a proud alumnus; 17 of these years have been spent educating Spartans at Pace High School. De la Vega currently teaches AP and honors courses in English, Language and Composition as well as Literature. She is the AP Department and AdvancED Accreditation chairperson and is the Program Coordinator for the Pace’s Spartan Sword and Shield Honors Program.  

She reflects on the sacrifices and hard work and how grateful she is to have continued to push forward, “I am so thankful that I did. I am now looking forward to finding new dreams and goals to chase, and to putting my doctoral degree to good use at my alma mater.”