www.GoodMorningGwinnett.com Lies Toribio walks into a classroom at Bethesda Elementary and sits in front of a laptop bearing a sticker: “dedicated teacher.”


Toribio, 41, teaches kindergartners in person and virtually, a challenging feat for someone in her first semester as a full-time teacher. But she’s jumped bigger hurdles at the school near Lilburn, where she was first hired 11 years ago — as a custodian.

“You always work with love and pride, no matter what you do and what profession you are,” Toribio said.

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The career transformation is a dream come true for Toribio, who earned an education degree in the Dominican Republic and taught briefly there before immigrating to the United States to join family in Lawrenceville.

She knew little English when she moved to Georgia, preventing her from pursuing a teaching certification here. She worked different retail and cleaning jobs before Gwinnett County Public Schools hired her in 2010 as a custodian at Bethesda.

SOURCE: www.AJC.com