Danbury's 2020 Teacher Of The Year Feels Calling To Classroom

DANBURY, CT — Soraya Bilbao's teaching resume’ may not look like that of others who share a love of educating students. But the Danbury High School teacher makes sure that she puts the vast and unique experiences that have made up her professional career to good use on a daily basis.

Bilbao, who has taught English as a second language at the school since 2013, has also spent time working for various not-for-profit organizations, volunteering for the Peace Corps and teaching English to village children in far-off places like the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific.

Those experiences have only enhanced the way Bilbao does her job in a school setting where 43 non-English languages — predominantly Spanish and Portuguese — are spoken. But the way Bilbao incorporates her world view into her style of teaching are among the traits that led Danbury school officials to announce her as the high school’s 2020 Teacher of the Year on Thursday.

Bilbao was also recognized for her devoted service to her students, colleagues and community in earning the honor, school officials said.

“This has been an unusually difficult time for educators yet Soraya has been able to connect with students through remote learning and her students have continued to show marked improvement,” Danbury Superintendent of Schools Sal Pascarella said in a news release. “Like many other teachers, she puts in long hours helping students because she loves what she does and that can be seen by anyone who knows her.”

In addition to her teaching duties, Bilbao's outreach in helping others has been exemplified through her role as an advisor to the Fight Child Hunger Club and her support of the student-led advocacy group, CT Students For A Dream. Her passion for education has also led her to testify at the State Capitol in support of providing undocumented students who wish to attend college with financial aid.

Bilbao also launched the Spanish Advanced Placement/Independent Study Program for DHS students learning English as a second language and has helped to secure funding to implement the Building Bridges to College program.

Bilbao holds two master’s degrees from Fairfield University in industrial and organizational psychology and in Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages. During her tenure at Danbury High School, Bilbao works with 80-90 students per year, all of whom come from all over the world.

“She spends countless hours after school working with students to ensure success,” Principal Dan Donovan said of Bilbao. “We have a tremendous number of excellent teachers at DHS, but Soraya stands out. She engages all the kids, holds high expectations and makes all of our students feel welcome.”

Bilbao characterizes her colleagues as dedicated “in-house references” and praised an educational environment where she said a high level of esprit de corps exists and where teachers are willing to share their strategies with others to ensure the success of students. Bilbao said from the moment she interviewed at the school, she knew it was the place for her to continue her career, where she continues to build off of the variety of experiences that have made her so invaluable.

And after world travel and a love of language fueled her desire to help students connect with language itself, she now puts her two loves together in a place she believes she was meant to be.

“I love when I am able to see that (students) understand and the other thing that’s fun is thinking about how to present the material so they understand,” Bilbao said in the news release. “My favorite part is when I see that the students get it. I put something together and then I see them applying and using what I hoped to teach them. This is my calling. This is where I want to be – in the classroom.”