The teacher is grateful to her sixth-grade teacher in her hometown of Brighton, Colo., who taught the students some Spanish. She said if students learn Spanish before age 12, they can still learn to roll their Rs, which she demonstrates adeptly. Learning Spanish at a young age could help students master any of the popular romance languages, she said. The educator said Brighton was largely a Latino community when she was growing up and often a place of prejudice, which is something that fuels her passions for fighting bigotry and biases today. Elementary school is a great time to foster and instill tolerance and understanding of all kinds and nationalities of people, she said.
Kids are the teachers.
The little kids all get along. I really think the prejudices get taught. Fahrenkrug has another passion that some may not know about, since she earned an associate's degree in animal health from Colorado Mountain College in the early 1980s. Originally, she wanted to be a veterinarian and worked for a vet during weekends in high school. Teaching was not in the game plan for her as a teenager since both of her parents were teachers.