Manuela Bandres Tari

Manuela Bandres Tari, a Bill of Rights Institute Teacher Council member from Brighton, Colorado, has been teaching for eight years. She considers her selection to be on the council among one of her proudest achievements, along with being chosen as a Boettcher Mentor by Colorado’s Boettcher Foundation. On a day-to-day basis, however, she is most proud whenever she sees “the look that students get when they have that ‘a-ha’ moment of understanding.”

After being inspired to teach by her own ninth-grade history teacher, Manuela now teaches the same subject to eighth-graders at Overland Trail Middle School. One of her favorite historical figures to discuss is George Washington. “While by no means a model of a perfect individual, I find Washington’s methodology and leadership, both as a general and as president during the infancy of the United States, to be interesting and worthy of study.”

One of the reasons Manuela loves history and the United States is because of “the dreams and possibilities that are guaranteed under the laws of this country.” It’s the reason that her parents brought her and her three siblings to the U.S. from Spain. As such, she “loves the Primary Source collection on the BRI webpage, that helps [her] give students not only our Founding documents but also various perspectives on events that help guide students through major concepts that recur throughout our nation’s past and present.”