Jamie Trujillo: NMAEA

My journey was incredibly unexpected. Growing up, I knew I was going to go to college. It was never a question of IF I was going to go to college. The question was, what am I going to study? I've always been fascinated with the human mind, so psychology was a natural pathway for me. Originally I had wanted to be a therapist, though the specialty changed, one of the most prevalent being end of life therapy, or helping people emotionally and mentally make the transition into death. I had a plan. But there is a saying: “Men plan, God laughs.” And that's exactly what happened. 

I was one of those that got married really young. I got married at 19 to a man who was 25, and sometimes young people make really bad decisions.  It was one of those REALLY bad decisions that landed me in federal prison for nearly four years. So, at the age of 22, I went from being the goody goody high school valedictorian who had never gotten more than a speeding ticket to a convicted felon. I was always this almost obsessive rule follower. This was so outside of my norm that I didn't know how to deal with it. I was terrified, and I remember telling my attorney that I was going to die if I went to prison, which I very genuinely meant. My lawyer, a very seasoned defense attorney by this point, looked at me. Without laughing (which I appreciated) he just said, “No, you won't.” And then he said something that has stuck with me for the rest of my life. He said, “Jamie, you are educated. There are people in there who can't even read. You have an opportunity to help other people. Do not waste that.” And I clung to that like a lifeline. 

So when I did go in, I decided to try to get a job in the education department. And even though it took a little while, I eventually did. One of the teaching staff there gave me a tutoring position, and I am forever grateful to that person for giving me that chance. Thus began my career in adult education in February of 2005. I tutored for three years at this federal women's facility in Fort Worth, Texas. I had the absolute privilege of helping those women to reach their educational goals, and it did not matter that they were being mandated to be there. The experiences were the same. The ultimate joy that they felt when I told them that they passed the test was the same. That was how I found my lifelong purpose. 

When I came back to Albuquerque, I was fortunate enough to find a job within two weeks at a local non-profit named, at the time, SER de New Mexico, which became Albuquerque GED, and then became Albuquerque Adult Learning Center. I worked my way up from being a part time teacher to a full time teacher, to the program coordinator and then education coordinator and education director. In addition, I became a trainer for the New Mexico Distance Education & Learning Technologies (NMDELT) team, and I have enjoyed providing professional learning opportunities to practitioners since. 

Now, I have the ultimate honor of being the executive director of NMAEA. I now have the opportunity to speak with people of influence. I advocate for adult education and literacy, on the local, state, and national level. I also have the pleasure of training and working with student ambassadors, who are all phenomenal leaders. 

If I could go back and talk to my 18 year old self and say, “Guess what? You're going to go to prison and that's where you're going to find your career and the field that you're going to spend the rest of your life loving and being passionate about,” I think I would slap myself. I’d say that there's no way. But it happened. That choice that I made impacted me in a terrifying and horrible way, and at the same time, in such a beautiful way that I could have never anticipated because it brought me to this field. It brought me home.