Faculty Profiles

Patricia Olano

High School Spanish

Patricia Olano teaches Spanish I and Spanish II at the High School level. Born and educated in Peru, she worked as an administrative assistant at the British Academy in Lima before coming to the U.S. with her husband. Patricia joined Ashworth in 2008.

Although this is Patricia's first teaching position, it did not take her very long to realize how much she enjoys the experience. "I like to try different things," she says. "When I started teaching Spanish to the students at Ashworth I really liked it. Teaching is my new passion and my new career!"

With the burgeoning growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S. in recent years, Patricia feels that teaching the Spanish language is more important than ever before. "It is practically the second language here right now," she points out. "In so many places, more and more people are speaking Spanish."

Patricia takes a great deal of satisfaction from helping her students navigate the challenges that language students can sometimes encounter. "I like to help people, so when they ask me questions I try to answer as soon as possible. If I don't have the answer right away I'll find out who can help and make sure the student knows who to contact to find the information."

Being responsive to students and their needs is important to Patricia, especially with respect to the online learning experience. "I want them to know that we take care of them," she says. "It's important to be responsive to students so they will know we care about them. It's especially important with distance education because it's not the same as if you have them in front of you."