From a teacher................

'Being the English Language Development teacher for grades 3-6 for the ----- Intermediate School for 12 years,  I have had countless significant experiences with my students, families and teachers.  My role for the School District is multifaceted as I also serve as an interpreter for the school district and an advocate for our Latino community.  

A recent significant experience that I am very proud of was assisting an undocumented student receive a $30,000 scholarship to attend Colorado Mesa University in Montrose, CO with the hopes of transferring to the main campus in Grand Junction, CO in the future. 

 Because I had taught her English since her harrowing journey to the United States when she was 10, our high school counselor and principal contacted me to talk with a panel of prominent women in Telluride who award this local scholarship to a deserving Latina student in our community.

I played an instrumental role in advocating for her as I have known her for 8 years and watched her work her tail off to not only learn a new language, but also find her place in a new country, community and learn what it meant to be a student in Telluride.   

She interviewed before the panel but was not as forthcoming with information about her successes to the panel as I was.  I was able to shed light on her numerous accomplishments and convince them, albeit not that difficult because she was a star student but one who flew under the radar for obvious reasons, that while there were other deserving candidates my student was the most deserving of all of the applicants.  

As a result, her name was called on Awards Night and her parents, despite not speaking or understanding English very well, were in the audience and watched as their daughter walked across the stage to receive the prestigious scholarship.  

This lovely young lady is now a freshman at Colorado Mesa University focusing on her prerequisites for nursing.  We are in contact weekly as I continue to offer advice with her studies, how to create relationships with professors, and how to navigate life as a college student.  

What started as a teacher student relationship has grown over the years and I am proud to call both her and her parents my friends.'