Karina León de Bettino: Bilingual EA Becomes First Mexican Licensed Librarian in Minnesota

When Karina León de Bettino moved to Minnesota from Mexico in 2017, it wasn't easy. She had worked as a teacher and a journalist in Mexico, but being an immigrant who did not speak perfect English made it difficult to find a job at first. After many months, she was hired as an educational support professional in Minneapolis Public Schools, where she discovered her passion for libraries.

At the Spanish immersion school where she worked, they never had a Spanish-speaking librarian. "How can a librarian truly inspire students to love reading in Spanish if the cannot read, write or speak the language?" she recalls thinking. She also considered the power of her students seeing someone who looked like them as the school librarian, and decided to go back to school to become a Library Media Specialist.

Karina continued to work at the Spanish immersion school while pursuing her degree, working closely with her fellow teachers and creating library lessons in Spanish. In 2024, she came to Saint Paul Public Schools as a bilingual educational assistant at Creative Arts Secondary School and Open World Learning Community. She graduated with her master's degree from St. Cloud State University in May 2025, becoming the first licensed Mexican librarian in Minnesota.

"I believe education is the cornerstone of a society. I believe that the library of a school is the heart of that community," Karina said. "My dream is to keep that heart beating so I can guide all my students to love reading and help prepare them for a complicated world."

Karina will start in her new role as a Spanish teacher at Highland Park Middle School in the fall.