MJ Castro stands at graduation, June 7, to a round of applause for her 35 years of service. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
1977. The year of the New York City blackout. The first year an Apple computer was released. The year that the World Trade Center was completed. The year that Mary Julie Castro Castellanos set foot into the Bromfield school.
For 35 years, Castro has been teaching languages, both French and Spanish, to students at Bromfield. Today, she is known around the school simply as “Señora.” But this month, as classes drew to a close, she has been saying “hasta luego” to students and colleagues as she prepares to retire from the school where she has spent her life as a teacher.
In choosing her profession, Castro says she was inspired by her grandmother, a graduate of Wellesley College with a major in French. She studied languages throughout high school. At the age of 16, she took a summer abroad and lived in Paris. Fast forward a few years, and Castro graduated with a master’s degree in French from Middlebury College and a minor in Spanish from the University of Connecticut. As her French fluency soared, her Spanish went in the other direction. “With a glut of teachers at that time, I knew I needed to differentiate myself,” Castro said. And she did. Over the next few years, Castro immersed herself in Spanish culture, taking, by her estimate, 60 to 80 courses. Whether medieval Spanish poetry or Latin American cinema, Castro took it.
A whole other life
Having learned all she could about Spanish culture from books and classes, Castro decided it was time to experience it. She took an immersion trip to Spain, aiming to fully understand and appreciate Spanish life and culture. During this trip, Castro met her husband, Carlos. Today they live on a fully functional farm in Shirley, with one son, Roberto. They breed golden retrievers and are members of the elite Yankee Golden Retriever Club, limited to the finest-bred golden retrievers. “It’s a hard business,” Castro said. “We aim for all of our dogs to become show dogs…but there are certain requirements they have to meet.”
During summers, Castro and her husband travel to their house in Spain. “We have a rule,” Castro explained. “In America, we only speak Spanish. In Spain, we only speak English…It really keeps us sharp in both languages.”
“Quiero saber más”
Castro has wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember. She fell in love with languages during high school, and college only solidified her dream. After receiving her degrees, it took her just one year to discover Bromfield. She began at another school system and taught there for nine months. When informed of a substitute opening in Harvard, she pounced. The next year, she was officially a “Bromfielder.” Compared to her former school, Castro felt more welcome and comfortable. “There is a strong sense of camaraderie [at Bromfield]…and I felt respected by both faculty and students.” For Castro, the true joy and reward of teaching come through the students. Describing herself as a “people person,” Castro further explained, “…[the moment] when [the students] figure it out is wonderful…seeing the beginnings of fluency in my students brings me pure joy.” In addition, she loves hearing about students who continue to pursue language in college.
Castro’s goal, she says, has been to teach students to go above and beyond, challenging them. For her final year at Bromfield, Castro went in with a Spanish motto: “Quiero saber más,” which translates to, “I want to know more.” She informed her students of this motto on the first day of school and repeated it throughout the year, inspiring her students to push themselves and go to a higher level of thinking.
A legend
Castro is one of the most accomplished teachers in Bromfield’s history. She has taught every level of high school French and Spanish, from college prep freshman Spanish, all the way up to Advanced Placement French. In fact, Castro was the one who established the Advanced Placement (AP) language department at Bromfield. “I felt students needed more of a challenge and a next step in their languages,” Castro said. She studied the structure of AP programs at other high schools, and developed Bromfield’s curriculum using her observations.
In addition, due to her length of service, Castro is one of the few teachers to have taught two generations at Bromfield. Castro has taught a few pairs of parents and their children. “A student will come in, and I’ll recognize the last name,” Castro said, laughing. “It’s unbelievable teaching the children of parents I had as students back in the day!”
This year, Castro finished off her impressive career by teaching a variety of Spanish classes, from freshman to seniors. Unfortunately, because of how the language department structure fell into place, Castro has not had a French class in over 10 years. Castro commented, “It kills me not to be speaking French…I look for every opportunity I can to use my French.” At one point, Castro says, she taught “trilingually,” something no other teacher at Bromfield has ever done. “Going back and forth was a fun challenge,” said Castro, “…although there were some days where I would begin class in the completely wrong language!” Castro explained that each language is its own mindset. “One word can put me into the mindset. It’s like a switch flipping inside my head and…I’m in a completely new world,” Castro explained.
Ending her remarkable teaching career, Castro is beginning a commitment to her farm. After retirement, Castro says she can’t wait to rediscover her old hobbies. She plans to bike, ski, horseback ride, sew, play violin, and of course, breed dogs. As one of its most revered teachers, Castro leaves behind a legacy at the Bromfield School that won’t be forgotten. As one of her AP students wrote in a thank-you letter, “[Castro has] touched and mentored more people than [she’ll] ever know.”
Emily Erdos is a sophomore at the Bromfield School.
