She Was Inspired at 太平洋; Now She's Inspiring Others

这所高中的教室一尘不染. Whiteboards and a projection screen dominate the front wall, while black chairs and white desks marked with blue painter’s tape for social distancing fill the room. Off to the side, a wall of windows illuminates the room. 欢迎来到希尔斯伯勒高中, where Martha Méndez Bolaños ’21 will be teaching English language learners in the same school she once attended. 

“对我和我的家人来说，这是一段漫长的旅程. I can’t believe I’m here right now,msamendez Bolaños说, holding back tears.

“I spent so much time thinking college wasn’t for me, and now I know it was for me. I’m going to become an educator and work with the community where I come from. I can provide empathy to my students and their families, and work to support my students in the way I wish I and my family had been supported.”

美高美网络平台游戏的校友接待了她 西班牙语学士学位 在2021年5月，并且是 honored by the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching. 她现在正朝着一个方向努力 English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teaching endorsement 预计将于2022年春季完工.

“I’m going to become an educator and work with the community where I come from.”
-Martha msamendez Bolaños '21

“It was an honor to have Martha as a student here at 太平洋 University,西班牙语教授南希·克里斯托夫说. “她是一个天生的领导者.”

“I certainly plan to stay in touch with her as she launches her career as a bilingual teacher who will model to all students, 尤其是说西班牙语的新移民, the success one can achieve if one takes advantage of opportunities and perseveres.”

寻找更美好的生活

“I just knew that I didn’t want to work in the fields the rest of my life,msamendez Bolaños说.

4岁时, 她从瓦哈卡搬来, 墨西哥, 她带着母亲和两个兄弟姐妹去了俄勒冈州, 加入了她父亲和三个哥哥姐姐的行列. 她的家人在希尔斯伯勒的农田里工作, 科尼利厄斯，福里斯特格罗夫，还有安德森, 加州的弗雷斯诺和奥克斯纳德.

在迁徙季节之间, learning English and fitting in at schools in Hillsboro proved challenging. There was only one bilingual teacher and few immigrant students like her. Mixtec, an Indigenous language, was her first language.

She laughs recalling a time in second grade when her teacher asked students to draw the three ships Christopher Columbus sailed on behalf of Spain. Méndez Bolaños drew three sheep with collars and named them Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.

A summer trip to 太平洋 University as a third-grader planted the seeds of higher 教育. 乔丽·里卡德11届医学博士, 然后是体育老师, took Méndez Bolaños and a group of migrant students on a tour of the university in 1997 to instill in them at an early age that higher 教育 was within their reach.

孩子们充满了知识, 韧性和强烈的家庭意识, 文化与语言. What they needed was for the system to work for them and not against them,里卡德说。, now Forest Grove School District instructional coach. “If I played a small part in Martha’s story, I feel blessed. Martha is amazing, and she is a person who will change the system for her students. 她就是他们一直在等待的老师.”

msamendez Bolaños保留了那次访问的两张照片. 她记得在森林格罗夫校园里散步, 路过宿舍, 在自助餐厅吃午饭, 在外面吃午饭，拍照. It was an exhilarating experience that resonated with her.

她回忆道:“这让人不知所措。. “我不允许在别人家里睡觉. 这是一个文化问题. 我甚至没有去户外学校，”她说.

“When I was thinking about sleeping in the dorms, I thought, ‘Who does that?“我以前从未接触过大学. 一切都是那么新鲜.”

二十年后, she toured 太平洋 University again at a transfer student open house and enrolled in 2019.

改变世界

“As a 9-year-old I thought, ‘This is out of my reach,’msamendez Bolaños说. “我怎么上得起大学?? 我是非法移民，当时没有DACA.”

决心改变她的未来, she stopped working in the fields after graduating from high school and landed a job with the Hillsboro School District in the Migrant Education Program.

While speaking at the Coaching for Education Equity conference in Cottage Grove in 2017, 她又和里卡德联系上了, 把她介绍到美高美网络平台游戏的导师. Rickard and colleagues at Fairview Elementary School encouraged Méndez Bolaños to go back to school and 成为一名教师.

A 4.0 GPA from Portland Community College and 太平洋 University’s Founders Scholarship, 等, 让梦想成为可能.

“Martha brings so much to any classroom she is a part of because of her brilliance, 善良, 临界, 和护理,” said 太平洋 Education Assistant Professor Tara Meister.

“她显然是在为她的社区教书, demonstrating the responsibility she feels by asking profound questions, 寻求反馈, 提供创造力和好奇心. Her deep sense of self and her relationality will serve all of her students, but especially those who see something of themselves and their culture in her.”

msamendez Bolaños是 她是家里的第一人 获得大学学位. She says she decided to teach teenagers because her brother dropped out of high school shortly after moving to the U.S. 她指责缺乏服务和支持. She also wants to make a difference in the community where she grew up.

“Some newcomer students don’t have the option but to seek a better place or home because of what their life was like in their countries of origin. 当他们来到这里, it’s difficult for their parents to navigate the 教育al system,msamendez Bolaños说.

“I want to be that extra adult in their lives that can root for them, 相信他们, 让他们知道他们可以成功. 生存和创造收入很重要, but I also want to encourage my students to continue their academic 教育 because that will take them anywhere they want to go.” ■

这个故事出现在2021年秋季号 太平洋 杂志. 更多报道，请访问 0remain.com/magazine.