By Anthoney Elizalde

Ms.Labrado smiles in her classroom at Azusa High school.

Frieda Labrado became a teacher because she liked having summers off, but she ended up loving the job. She grew up in Azusa, went to Catholic school, and later attended high school in Glendora. She loves to travel and has been to places like England, Scotland, and France, with England being her favorite because of its history and famous authors.

In her free time, she enjoys running, reading, gardening, and cooking. She has had eight dogs in her life and plans to get another when she retires. Her favorite book is Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls  because she loves dogs. She enjoys teaching English, but math was always her least favorite subject.

The following interview has been edited and condensed.

Why did you become a teacher? 

I originally became a teacher because I really like the idea of having three months off in the summer because I like to travel and have the different breaks and then when I started teaching I really fell in love with it so I really really enjoyed it, but honestly it was for the schedule. 

To bring it back, where have you traveled too?

 I have been to quite a few different countries in the world. I’ve been to England, Scotland , Belgium, France, and Greece, a few countries in Europe and quite a few states here in the United States.

 Which one was your favorite and why? 

My favorite…Oh I love them all. I would say my favorite is England. I have always been in love with England since I was a little girl. My teacher would read books about England. They have kings, queens, castles and I just fell in love with all of that. So England is my favorite; plus my favorite authors – Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Beatrix Potter are from England.

Where did you grow up? 

Here in Azusa, Its kind of strange because I grew up in Azusa but I went to a catholic schools so I didn’t really get to know a lot of kids in my neighborhood. I just knew people from school and then I went to highschool in Glendora so even though I lived in Azusa a lot of my friends didn’t. So I like living here now more than when I was younger.  

What are your hobbies? 

My number one hobby as you know I like to run, so it helps me relieve stress. It helps me not get too fat , and I also like to read. I like to garden and lately I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. I didn’t used to like to cook but now it’s my latest hobby.  

Do you have a favorite book or movie? 

I have a lot of favorite books but one that I just love and I used to read every year when I taught elementary to my students was Where the Red Fern grows.” It’s about a boy and his dogs because I’ve always loved dogs stories. 

Do you have any pets? 

They all died. They all left me, but I had eight dogs in my lifetime. 

What were their names? 

Daniel was my first dog; he was a yellow Lab and then I had two black labs Bella and Ideen. They were sisters and then I had a boy named Eli and then a pitbull named Lana.

I will get another dog when I retire.  

What’s a fun fact about you?

I like to run half marathons. That’s probably a fun fact I guess.  

What was your favorite subject in school? 

English, and that’s why I teach it. Math was my worst. I’m not good at math.