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Face to Face: Tonganoxie’s Delia Rubio

By Staff | Sep 1, 2015

Name: Delia Rubio

Born: Juarez, Mexico

Family: Husband, Carlos; daughters, Christina, 22, a senior at Washburn University who also works at Kansas University Hospital, and Jessica, 19, who also attends WU; and family dog, Kenya.

Occupation: English Language Learners para-professional, Spanish interpreter for Parents as Teachers and employee at It’s a Sweet Treat Day Bakery.

Dream job as a child: To be a mother and a teacher.

“I used to pretend a lot that I was a teacher, so this is my dream job,” Rubio said.

Interesting fact: Rubio works with students whose first language is not English, as well as their parents.

Digging deeper: Rubio was born in Mexico and orphaned at the age of 4 as one of six children. She lived with aunts and lived in Mexico, California and Texas growing up before graduating in 1987 from Ysleta High School in El Paso, Texas.

She then took college business courses in El Paso and later early childhood education classes at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo.

Rubio and her husband met in Mexico and moved to the area because of family in the Kansas City area. Carlos has worked several years as an electrician. The family lived in Kansas City, but eventually moved out to Tonganoxie.

Rubio said she’s thankful to be providing linguistic services to families in the area.

“As a child, it was precious to see someone who spoke your own language,” Rubio said. “I’m kind of giving back with what I experienced. I just feel great about it.

“I’m trying to be that support for the children and the families here. I want to build that security in them.”

Rubio likes to travel and visit new states in both Mexico and the United States. She’s been to a wide range of places, from Milwaukee to Maui and North Carolina to California.

She said she likes to learn more about her culture in the process.

“That’s something I’ve always liked to talk to the children about … the places I’ve been,” she said.