Edith Shepherd’s path to Greensboro College began in her native Cuba. She grew up with her parents and three sisters and attended a private, Quaker school in Cuba until she was in junior high school. When Castro’s regime took over in Cuba, she and her sisters went to a government school.

Shortly after Castro’s rise to power, her family decided to leave the country. “My father worked in Cuba as an accountant for the government and my mother was a seamstress,” she said. “They both were hard workers and self-made people. Everything they had was earned. My father came to the United States and my mother and sisters and I stayed behind. We knew what he was doing was risky but it was for the good of the family,” she says. 

“He was among the first to come over to the United States on a boat,” Shepherd continues, “and his generation is thought of as pioneers in Cuba.”

For months, Shepherd and her family continued with life, not knowing for sure whether or not her father was safe in America. “After a long, long time, friends in Miami contacted our family to tell us that our father arrived safely.” And from Miami, her father traveled to Chicago for a short time before joining more family in Port Chester, N.Y. 

“At the time, news traveled very slowly,” Shepherd explains. “But eventually, we received letters and even some photos.” 

When it was time for Professor Shepherd and her family to come to the United States, they relied upon organizations for Cuban refugees to assist them. After flying from eastern Cuba to Havana to Miami, the family received assistance from organizers to get them to New York. There, the family was finally reunited.

The experience of coming to a new country and becoming a stranger in a strange land affected the family deeply. “You don’t realize how centralized your world is until everything changes,” she reflected.

Professor Shepherd returned to Cuba in 1998 and was reunited with her extended family. She enjoys traveling to Miami to talk with other Cuban immigrants and learn what their experience of coming to America is like.

“The perception of immigrants is different now from what it was when my family came to America,” she says, “but this is a great way for me to stay in touch with other Cubans and to maintain my heritage.”

Shepherd earned the bachelor of arts degree at Guilford College and the master of education degree at UNCG. She joined Greensboro College in 1989 after teaching at Guilford College and Guilford Technical Community College. 

She is the coordinator of the Spanish education program and teaches elementary and intermediate Spanish classes as well as Spanish literature classes.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing first-year Spanish education students standing in front of their own classes and knowing that we have helped them become excellent Spanish teachers,” Shepherd says with a smile.