Tag Archives: Latino American Teachers

Teachers who were Latino Americans, or who worked with Latino American student populations.

New Mexico teacher Sylvia Garcia succumbs to coronavirus

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With great sadness, we announce that New Mexico teacher Sylvia Garcia succumbed to coronavirus on Nov. 29, 2020. Photo credit: Las Cruces Sun News

With great sadness, we announce that the coronavirus has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Sylvia Garcia, a longtime teacher within New Mexico’s Las Cruces Public School District, passed away on November 29, 2020, after battling COVID-19. She was 60 years old.

Sylvia inaugurated her career in education in 1991. Most of her career was spent at schools where a large percentage of students were considered high risk. Over the three decades of her professional life, Sylvia taught at Sunrise Elementary, Hermosa Heights Elementary, and Valley View Elementary.  In 2019, she accepted a position at Lynn Community Middle School, where she taught math and reading intervention to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. In addition to her responsibilities in the classroom, Sylvia served in several leadership positions within the teachers’ union NEA Las Cruces.

Sylvia’s colleagues remember that she worked diligently on behalf of her students. “She was a unique teacher whose reach went beyond the classroom. She invested in the lives of her students and her colleagues and she made students feel like they were her own family,” recalled Lynn Middle School Principal Brenda Ballard. “During our remote learning time, she would find ways to engage students in something personal.  She knew details about students few others did,” Ballard continued.

To read more about this wonderful educator, see this link to the Las Cruces Sun News.

Rene Plasencia: Educator and member of Florida House of Reps

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Former US Government teacher Rene Plasencia is currently serving in the Florida State House of Representatives.

Many fine educators have also carved out a successful career in politics. One of these is Rene Plasencia, a high school teacher who is currently serving as a representative in the Florida House of Representatives.

Rene was born on January 8, 1973, in Orlando Florida. His mother was Puerto Rican and his father was Cuban. As a youngster, Rene attended Dr. Phillips High School. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Central Florida on a rack and field scholarship. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1996.

Once he earned his degree, Rene accepted a position as a teacher at Colonial High School, where he taught US Government for 15 years.  “I taught in a diverse community filled with hard working families, many of them newly arrived to our Country,” recalls Rene. While teaching at Colonial, the dedicated educator also served as the coach for the track and cross country teams. In 2011 and 2012, his Boys Cross Country teams won back-to-back state championships. These were the first and only titles that the school has earned in any sport. For his work as a coach, Rene was named Florida’s 2011 Cross Country Coach of the Year.

Iin 2015, Rene was elected on the Republican ticket to the Florida House of Representatives, where he served the 49th District from 2014 to 2016. Once that term was completed, he was elected to represent Florida’s 50th District, a position he has held since 2016.

To learn more about Rene Plasencia, see the article about him by Ruth Guerra and published by the GOP.

 

Chicago teacher Olga Quiroga succumbs to Covid-19

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Elementary bilingual education teacher Olga Quiroga of Chicago, Illinois, succumbed to Covid-19 on Oct. 1, 2020. Photo credit: New York Post

We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Olga Quiroga, a bilingual education teacher from Chicago, Illinois, succumbed on October 1, 2020, after a three-week battle with the disease. She was 58 years old.

Olga’s career as an educator spanned three decades. At the time of her passing, she taught bilingual education to first graders at Funston Elementary School. The school offers a comprehensive bilingual/monolingual academic program for students in grades Pre-K through 8th grade.

This compassionate educator said she deliberately chose teaching assignments at schools in lower-income neighborhoods because she believed that is where she was needed most. “My mom [would tell us] … ‘Those are the families that appreciate a good education … If I’m going to make a change,’ that’s where she wanted to start,” remembered Olga’s daughter Giovanna Quiroga.

Colleague Lois LaGalle agreed. “She was never intimidated by authority or school policy,” La Galle recalled. “When she saw a wrong being done to a child or a child’s family … whenever she would see an injustice being done that could be fixed and should be fixed, she never hesitated for a moment to advocate.”

Olga’s patience and passion for helping immigrant students came easy to her, because she herself was an immigrant. She came to the United States with her husband from Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 1985. Once she arrived in this country, Olga took job cleaning houses for $50 per week. She also enrolled in night classes to learn English and to earn her GED. Over time, she earned her Associate’s degree, and then she enrolled at Chicago State University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree.

Olga inaugurated her career in the Chicago Public School system in 1991 as a Reading Instruction Assistant. She served in this role for ten years. In 2001, she earned her certifications in English as a Second Language.

To read more about Olga, see her obituary published in the Chicago Sun Times.

 

Selena Torres: English teacher and member, Nevada State Assembly

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High school English teacher and member of the Nevada State Assembly Selena Torres of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Often excellent classroom teachers also achieve success in the political realm. One teacher who has done this is Selena Torres, an English teacher from Las Vegas, Nevada, who also serves as a member of her State Assembly.

Selena was born and raised in Las Vegas. Her father is an immigrant from El Salvador who came to this country to escape the civil war in his home country. Her mother is also a high school English teacher.

A member of Teach for America, Selena earned her Associate of Arts degree in Spanish from the College of Southern Nevada in 2014 and her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2016. She has been a member of the Kappa Delta Chi Sorority since 2015.

Since 2017, Selena has been employed as an English teacher by the Clark County School District. “In my classroom, I regularly speak with my students about their future after high school,” expressed Selena. “My students are eager to be productive members of our community but are often limited by the skills they are given in the classroom. Additionally, students find it difficult to navigate higher education and trade schools to pursue the career of their dreams,” she continued. “As a Nevada legislator, I continue to be a strong voice for Nevada students and advocate for legislation that puts our students and our future first,” she concluded.

The talented classroom teacher was elected to the Nevada State Assembly on the Democratic ticket.  She has represented District 3, which includes Clark County, since 2018. She is a member of the Education Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Legislative Operations and Elections Committee.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, check out her website at selenatorresnv.com.

Educator Jaime Escalante taught his students to Stand and Deliver

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Celebrated educator Jaime Escalante: He taught his students to Stand and Deliver.

One of the most well-known teachers in twentieth-century American history, Jaime Escalante, passed away in 2010, but already his story is fading from our collective cultural memory. He was the teacher portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver.

The recipient of numerous awards and special praise from President Ronald Reagan, Jaime Escalante was a popular and talented teacher who challenged supposedly “unteachable” inner-city Latino students to achieve beyond a level anyone thought them capable of. He eventually led them to unparalleled success on the extremely difficult Advanced Placement Calculus exam.

In researching Jaime’s life story for my own book, Chalkboard Champions, I learned some surprising facts about this remarkable educator. For example, the movie never mentions that prior to immigrating to the United States, he earned a degree in mathematics and a teaching credential in Bolivia. Jaime was a veteran teacher with nine years of experience in prestigious schools when he decided to leave his politically unstable homeland and come to America in search of a better life for his family. Once he arrived, unable to speak a word of English, Jaime discovered that his education, training, and experience held no value here.

Determined to return to the classroom, Escalante set about learning the English language and earning his university degree all over again. It took him ten years to get back into the classroom, at a significant cut in pay, by the way. But to this dedicated teacher, it was well-worth the hard work. A well-researched and well-written account of this celebrated educator’s life can be found in the biographical book Jaime Escalante: The Best Teacher in America by Jay Matthews. For a condensed version of Jaime Escalante’s life, check out chapter 12 my volume, Chalkboard Champions. Either way, you’ll find his story compelling and inspiring.