Gabriela María Whitemarsh is a bilingual mathematics teacher at Pasco High School in Pasco, Washington. Currently, she teaches ninth through 12th grade students in high school precalculus, Algebra 1 in Spanish to students new to the United States and the Advanced Via Individual Determination elective. Whitemarsh received her Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from the University of Washington and master’s degree in teaching from Heritage University, where she served as the commencement graduate-student speaker.

Throughout her 18-year career in higher and K-12 education, Whitemarsh has held several leadership roles. Some include creating and transforming programs in multilingual education and as a director in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, Vice President of the Hispanic Academic Achiever’s Program and serving as the multilingual department chair and bilingual facilitator.

As a proud graduate of Pasco High School, Whitemarsh feels privileged to serve her community. Her colleagues describe her as a fierce advocate, fighting to ensure each student, especially those historically marginalized, has equitable access to all opportunities.

Whitemarsh proudly created the advanced multilingual mathematics program in 2018. This program creates structured pathways for newcomer students to take advanced, college-level math courses while they acquire English, something previously unavailable to them. To date, more than 125 newcomer multilingual students have participated, where 61 have earned college credits in precalculus and/or calculus.

For Whitemarsh, teaching is her calling. Her family and students are the priorities in her life. Building lasting relationships beyond students’ high school years is the foundation of her teaching philosophy.