University of Houston-Victoria student Melanie Castaneda is looking forward to graduating on Saturday. She already has started a permanent substitute position teaching kindergarteners at Vickers Elementary School in Victoria.

If University of Houston-Victoria student Melanie Castaneda is having a bad day, she knows she�ll forget all about it as soon as she gets into the classroom at Vickers Elementary School.

�The kindergarteners are hilarious,� she said about her most recent student teaching assignment. �One little boy had to name five things he was thankful for as part of a Thanksgiving project, and three of the things he listed were Tyrannosaurus rex, T. rex and dinosaurs.�

Castaneda, or �Ms. C.� as her students call her, will graduate magna cum laude from UHV on Saturday with a bachelor�s degree in interdisciplinary studies focusing on early childhood education through sixth grade.

But the 27-year-old Victoria resident wasn�t always so sure she wanted to be a teacher. After graduating from what was then Victoria High School in 2001, she started taking classes at Victoria College and planned on eventually becoming a lawyer.

�I saw what some of my family members had who were lawyers and that interested me, but I didn�t have a passion for it,� she said.

By the time she was 20, she had changed her mind. A job at a local daycare made her realize that teaching was what she wanted to do. Castaneda decided to transfer to UHV about two and a half years ago and go to school full time so that she could finish her bachelor�s degree faster.

She has even inspired her 32-year-old husband, Steven, to get his higher education. He�s been taking classes at Victoria College for the last year and wants to become a physical therapist. Their 4-year-old daughter, Julia, likes it that all three of them go to school.

 �I want her to grow up and to be able to check the box on surveys that both of her parents are college graduates,� Castaneda said.

Castaneda hasn�t just concentrated on taking classes as a UHV student. She also got involved with the UHV Student Senate when she was a junior and now is a senator at-large. Her motivation for joining the Senate was to make a difference at the university and in the community.

In her role on the Senate, she volunteered at summer camps at the Texas Zoo in Victoria and helped coordinate a Breast Cancer Awareness Kickball Tournament in November.  She also served as a student ambassador during freshman orientation sessions in the summer.

�The freshmen were really curious about what student life is like at UHV,� she said. �Now I see them around UHV, and they remember me.�

Student Senate adviser Janet Foerster said she has appreciated Castaneda�s work on the Senate and knows she will do well in the future.

�She�s a �take action� type of person,� Foerster said. �She gets the job done and has a lot of good ideas.�

That attitude has already helped Castaneda get a classroom job. She started a �permanent substitute� position at Vickers Elementary on Wednesday. She�s teaching kindergarteners for six weeks while the regular classroom teacher is on maternity leave. She hopes to find a permanent teaching job after that. If not, she will substitute teach and start taking graduate classes toward a master�s degree in counselor education.

�School doesn�t scare me anymore,� she said. �I just want to try everything.�

But more immediately, Castaneda is excited about walking across the stage during UHV�s fall graduation ceremony at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy. There to cheer her on will be her father and stepmother, Billy and JoAnn Winston; and her mother and stepfather, Debbie and Wayne Mercado. All four live in Victoria.

�I�m so excited about graduation,� Castaneda said. �I didn�t even know that I would be this excited until the paperwork started coming in the mail. It�s just going to be so cool.�