Gabriela Goitía Vázquez is an educator, writer, and media-maker. While teaching AP Human
Geography, Spanish Literature, and English Composition in Miami-Dade Public Schools, she prioritized place-based learning, storytelling, and mapmaking as methods for engaging students and empowering communities. Her work as an educator has been recognized by the National Book Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is a former rookie teacher of the year in Miami-Dade. Goitía Vázquez is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s in computing in education from Columbia’s Teachers College.
As a Spencer fellow, Goitía Vázquez will create a narrative atlas exploring the relationship between schools and storms, paying particular attention to how climate disasters have impacted educational trajectories, how schools can serve as recovery sites during and after disasters, and how to protect schools and children when climate crises occur.