Jennifer Lara

Jennifer Lara grew up in the small town of Beeville, in south Texas, before attending Southwest Texas State University (now renamed Texas State University) in San Marcos, Texas where she received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1998.  A few short years after graduating, she decided to follow her heart and get her elementary teaching certification through ECAP, an alternative certification program in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Since 2001, Mrs. Lara has taught Preschool (2 year olds), Prekindergarten, Kindergarten, 1 ^st   and 4 ^th grades.   She taught in public school for several years before taking time off to raise her then 2 young children. She taught Pre-K at St. Vincent de Paul Learning Center while her daughter and son attended the program and then Pre-K and Kindergarten at Children’s University. 
 
Jennifer returned to teaching 1 ^st grade in Arlington ISD for two years before she was blessed with the gift of a third child.  She took time off with her youngest son before returning to the Learning Center at SVDP again when he was old enough to attend, and she taught preschool.  Mrs. Lara has been humbled greatly by the opportunity to join the SJCS community as part of the teaching staff .
 
She has been happily married to her college sweetheart, David, for 19 years.  She and David have three children: Isabel (14), Noah (12), and Elijah (4).  Eli will be attending Pre-K at SJCS for the 2018-2019 school year.  The Lara family are dedicated parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul in Arlington.