As an MHS alumna, the Law & Leadership Honor Society advisor, debate coach, and English department chairperson, Ms. Davalyn Suarez seems to do it all. Yet when she leaves school, she still finds time to attend law school and will become a practicing lawyer by the summer of 2017.

TEACHER LIFE

Ms. Suarez has been teaching since November 2012 and currently teaches English 1 and Constitutional law. She decided to teach English because it has always been her favorite subject. “As an English major and an extrovert, I figured I would give teaching a shot until my next chapter in life,” she said.

Before she came to Miami High, she taught in Shenandoah Middle School and says her experience was wild. “I went to Carver Middle and my middle school was 22 rooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, and a gym. Shenandoah is huge! And the students were less engaged than I thought they would be. They were really great, but just not as invested in school or fearful of consequences,” she said.

Her favorite thing about teaching is that it’s noisy and alive. She enjoys interacting with people and fostering an appreciation for literature, stories, and deep thinking. Her least favorite thing is that there’s not enough time to do things that should be taken care of.

Although she loves teaching, being in the legal field is her dream. “I always felt that teaching was just for a season in my life, and I’m looking forward to working on education and youth issues from a different platform as an attorney,” she said.

LAW SCHOOL

Ms. Suarez currently attends NOVA Southeastern University Law School and is in her final year. She chose NOVA because it offered her a better evening schedule, which turned out great for her because if they didn’t, she would’ve had to stop being a teacher in order to pursue another career.

In 7th grade she read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and says that it became her favorite novel. “At that moment, I knew I wanted to work advocating for civil rights. Becoming a lawyer will give me leverage in advocating and working on public policy,” she said.

She has faced the hardest challenges throughout her years in law school. Having to memorize rules, non-stop reading, and sitting through 2 hour lectures that consist of a lot of notetaking can be pretty hectic. “It’s nauseating to sit through 4 hour exams at the end of the semester that determine your entire grade,” she said.

But challenges also come with benefits. Getting to meet the most incredible classmates and professors is one of them. Her classmates are super passionate about giving back and doing a lot of pro-bono work (meaning they offer their legal services for free).

“My civil rights professor was Bruce Rogow! And if you don’t know who he is, you need to look him up. This guy marched with Dr. King and is still fighting for civil rights,” she said.

One of her favorite classes is Lawyers as Advocates. “My professor Evan Goldman has a non-profit organization, is a lobbyist, and teaches our class.  Honestly, I’ve met the most hard-working people,” she said.

Ms. Suarez wants to work on pushing justice and policy reform in areas of youth criminalization, education, and civil rights. She hopes to have a job that will allow her to pursue that in the long run.

When you want to become a lawyer, you have to take the Bar examination, which basically determines whether you are competent to practice law in a given jurisdiction.

She is graduating on May 11th, 2017 and will start working as a lawyer, hopefully, after she takes her bar exams on July 25th and 26th.

LLHS ADVISOR/DEBATE COACH

Besides teaching and going to law school, Ms. Suarez is the advisor for the Law & Leadership Honor Society (LLHS) and the debate club coach. Ms. Suarez was motivated to create LLHS because she was surprised that the legal magnet didn’t have a club like the teaching magnet did (Future Educators of America).

“So many things happen outside of the classroom and there was no club to carry out the vision/mission of the legal magnet,” she said. She also felt that there are people in the community who would like to help. “So this was a way for them to become involved and speak to our students,” she said

She has a lot of responsibilities being an advisor and a coach. “As advisor it’s a lot of reminding everyone to stay focused, and being supportive, and staying positive. More importantly, I have to lead by example,” she said.

“Time, there’s not enough time. And I want to be there for everyone, and it’s just not possible, so inevitably some events and some opportunities get turned down because there’s just not enough time,” she said about the challenges she’s faced.

Her favorite part about being the advisor for LLHS is that she gets to work with the kids on their communication skills, which are a necessity to be successful.

Her favorite part about coaching debate is helping her students learn more about the issues that are going on in the world and to become deeper thinkers and better debaters.

MIAMI HIGH ALUMNA  

Davalyn Suarez was born on June 23, 1987, in Miami. She attended Kensington Park Elementary, George Washington Carver Middle, Miami Senior High, and FIU. Her hobbies are reading and all things music.

“I love going to book signings and finding new authors, attending concerts and reading music blogs,” she said. If she has extra time, you can catch her at the beach.

As a middle school student, did not plan on attending Miami High. “My parents got a divorce, so my mom moved close to MHS and then the choice was basically made for me,” she said.

Ms. Suarez feels that Miami High is still the same compared to when she attended. “It’s almost like a time warp there’s still a lot of school spirit, people from all groups get along, and we’re all still listening to Kanye,” she said.

She graduated with the class of 2005. In her senior year she was 2nd VP of Beta, VP of EHS, secretary of HHS, Clubs Editor for MIAHI, a member of AWARE, a class board member, and an SGA senator.

Ms. Suarez says her overall high school experience was great and she loved being a Stingaree. She attended many basketball and football games. “I also started dating my husband, Chuchi, in my senior year of high school, and he’s the kindest and most supportive person ever,” she said.