Interviews

INTRODUCTION: Faith leads us through the dark. It is the single thing that unites us and motivates us to hope-or that one’s hope is not in vain. Gloria Dios. I can hear it, with the flashes of smiles and smells of my childhood. God, it seems, was always part of my memory. But how?  Faith is deeply engrained into many Latinos’ lives that we often do not ask ourselves, how? How did our faith get there? In my community, your faith is taught to you. First by your parents, second by your extended family. In my case, huddled together on the pew, waiting for the service to get going, so we did not notice how cold it was inside the church, despite our pants under our long skirts. Abuela always said “You are never alone; you walk with God” (“Tu Nunca estás sola; tu caminas con Dios.”). Never forgetting this fact, when I discovered I was pregnant, I decided to walk toward him. Different than walking alongside him. I knew I needed help. Because I knew Faith was the product of strong leadership. How proud I was, as a child, that my Tia was our Sunday school teacher- a leader so vibrant and principled as she preached to us. In my memory I saw strong Latina women- keep the faith. I mean literally hold it up, that and a church full of men and make the rice. And if you ever went to Pentecostal church- you know what I mean. That is why, when I met Rebecca Hannon – she made sense to me. Young and despite that she’s an unwavering spiritual faith—that I could literally feel when I met her. In her interview, Rebecca talks about her vision. “I have a dream to see every family who lives in Buffalo reach their full potential. I believe that this can begin through the conduit of faith-centered education. As a result, I ventured out in 2018 and opened Strong Academy, a private school located on 14th street, right in the heart of my beloved community in the Westside of Buffalo.” Rebeca is a creator – for faith-based education-because we need it and she will tell you, it is a part of her leadership. Read her interview, support her school, learn about her dream in faith, and if you cannot simply move closer to the source of your faith, because lessons come to us in all places, and that’s what Rebecca would want. 1. What motivated you to become an educator? What was your experience like as a student? The short answer is that it is in my blood! My grandmother was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She came to Buffalo not knowing any English. She faced many adversities as she adapted to a new language and culture all while raising her two daughters, my mother, and my aunt. Despite the difficulties, she preserved and taught her daughters to do the same! When I was a little girl, I had the greatest honor of watching my grandmother and my mother walk across the stage at their graduation from Buffalo State College with their degrees in education. They paved the way for me to dream big. I am now a 3rd generation educator! 2. What was your experience like as a student? I had such a wonderful privileged of learning Spanish as my first language. I attended Head Start on Niagara street starting at age 3. From there I attended a Bilingual Buffalo Public School where I learned English. The staff there was so loving and encouraging. I remember the first assignment I completed in English as a 1st grader. My teacher was so proud of me that she went down to the principal’s office and showed it off! I was so moved by this teacher’s support of me that it inspired a lifelong love for learning in me. From there I attended a small private Christian school until 4th grade and then went back to Buffalo Public schools all the way through High School. I am a proud Hutch Tech Alumni! 3. Did you like school/learning?  Yes! All throughout my school career I encountered numerous educators who loved their profession and loved their students. These educators made it easy to love school and love learning. By the time I reached High School, I was so involved in extracurricular activities that I was often in school as early as 7:00am and would stay as late as 5pm on some days. To say I loved school and learning is probably an understatement! 4. How did your experience as a student inform your leadership style as an educator?  I was always most impacted by the dedication of the educators who were in my life. Their examples inspired me to always be the type of educator who truly took the time to get to know each of my students and their families and to love them like my own. I take my job so seriously because I know that it is a job that will shape the future of each of my students and the world that they build. 5. When did you start your work as an educator and what was your role? I began teaching in a small Nursery school as a teacher’s assistant. It was a fun role and was a great way to ease into the field of education. 6. What was your favorite/most informative role? My favorite role as an educator was serving as an afterschool Reading tutor with the 21st Century program in Kenton. Getting to help students in areas where they struggle the most is so rewarding. It reminds me that no one is beyond help if there is someone in the world willing to step up to help! 7. What advice do you have for educators today? Do not give up! Working with kids can be so challenging. Everyone has an individual personality and their own set of trials and struggles. However, everyone also has a

INTRODUCTION: When I was growing up, we were poor, but we were rich in human capital. What do I mean by human capital? Well, according to Investpedia, human capital can be classified as the economic value of a person’s experience. This includes assets like education, training, intelligence, skills, health, and other things employers value such as loyalty and punctuality. The people who raised me did not have much formal education but boy, did they have high human capital. They were bright and had skills that life taught them rather than a textbook. They had lessons to teach and I absorbed them. And in those rare moments when I was “out of the house” and alone to decide what kind of person I was- I thought of those lessons. What I learned literally helped me survive urban poverty and the side effects of being Puerto Rican and under-resourced – if you know what I mean. It took a village for me- comprised mostly of my cousins and father’s six brothers and sisters. Sprinkle some neighbors on top, between my porch and the corner store, that was my entire life. But that foundation bred, resilience in me and in countless other children. Your family builds the first wall for your village. Your community builds the outer wall for your village, and if you are lucky, people like Ms. Ichiery Rivera of Say Yes Buffalo add to the journey. People like her are bridge builders. Those who connect our children to resources within the school setting that are designed to change the trajectory of a life. Impossible to leave out, advocates like Ms. Rivera are an essential part of urban education. Ms. Rivera has a laugh that resonates down the halls of even the busiest high school hallway- I have had the privilege of hearing it myself. Her mission is to fight for every student. Her advocacy is an ode to her father whose commitment to community was well known to Puerto Ricans in Rochester, New York — her hometown. Her vibrant energy and storytelling connect people. Ms. Rivera shows up for work highly present, motivated, and authentic; leading by example and rising early in the morning while texting students to get ready for the day. Ms. Rivera of Say Yes Buffalo has motivated and comforted students on their toughest days and hugged them as they sailed across the stage on graduation days. Interview with ICHIERY RIVERA In this interview, she will tell us why she has dedicated her energies to children and what her journey through education has taught her: 1.     What motivated you to work with youth?  I have always been motivated since a young age to work with youth. My mom had in-home daycare when I was very little. So, in my first job, I was like 5 and it was my responsibility to fan the babies when they would cry. I would get paid 50 cents. Lol After that I was hooked and absolute the joy in taking care of another little human. I spent the rest of my childhood growing my experience in the field so that I could pinpoint what I wanted to do in the future. I babysat, worked in daycares, summer programs, etc.   2. What was your experience like as a student? As a student, I struggled academically often. Math was my enemy, spelling was a villain, and grammar was the devil himself. And attending catholic school my whole life- I was sure I knew what the devil was. In high school, science crept tear, the rest of my academic confidence down. After struggling in math 1 and science 1 realized my hopes of being a NICU nurse were never going to happen. So, like Elsa I let it go. I was always very adamant that I did not want to teach. I did not want to be a social worker either. I knew him I wanted to encourage and support youth through the ups and downs of life.  The beginning of my life I often describe as straight out of a sitcom. 2 parents who fell in love in High School. Got married at 19 and left PR for Rochester NY. They busted their butt working to get everything that they had. They built a family out of pure love. That love was the foundation of that family and life they created. My Father went from a 19-year-old newlywed to a man with 2 kids, a public investigator with the public defender’s office, and a big social activist in the Latino community. Which in turn led me on a path to be conscious of social justice issues and added another layer of youth activism to my path.  But at the age of 13, my foundation was shaking to the core. My Father my rock my everything the light of our community died. Like any sitcom story, there was a shift in the whole dynamic of the show and the main character left behind. My life is changed although our life was never extravagant it was stable. It’s hard to feel stable when half of your heart is missing.   3.     Did you like school/learning?  As I said before I struggled in school. It was later discovered that I could have benefited from ESL education, but it was not offered at any of my schools. Due to speaking two languages and the way my brain processed everything. I was unable to be a strong speller in any language but being bilingual allowed me to be able to use my decoding skills and have a high level of reading comprehension. Once I figured that being bilingual made me stronger in other areas during my junior year of high school. I was able to figure out my learning style and be a much more successful student. So, when I hit college, I LOVED school. Let alone going to school for Child and Youth services studying a topic I was passionate about made it

INTRODUCTION: The reason I chose to do my work in education, as a child, I was caught between two languages. I knew I was smart but would spend the better part of my early life trying to figure out how to express that fact. Public school did not know what to do with me- indicating to my parents at one time that my difficulty in expressing myself and slow reading meant I was “behind”. Not a new problem though, a girl who speaks two languages but who sometimes, will not speak at all. Both my paternal and maternal grandmothers were English as second language students, one speaking Sicilian at home and the other Spanish. Buffalo Public Schools educated my maternal grandmother, a bi-lingual first-generation Sicilian American, in the 1930s. She a Sicilian speaking child, I am sure knowing the great pause that comes about you – when your picking between two languages. Though we never talked about it. Dual language a theme in my heritage and academic interests. When I started my professional journey inside Buffalo Public Schools, I looked for people. People, who knew that kids like me, were smart and we were worth fighting for. Then I met Wilda Ramos.  She was just what I was looking for and that’s why her story is our first LatinaHerstory. Wilda’s interview documents her distinct Latina educational leadership inside a system with a rich history of supporting bi-lingual, and multilingual children, in her voice. Interview with Wilda Ramos Wilda Ramos, Language Assessment Coordinator — Buffalo Public Schools 1.What motivated you to become an educator?  I had good educators that inspired me to become an educator and believe that I was going to be successful in life, starting with my parents, who inspired me to get educated and to contribute to society.  As an adult, when I moved to Buffalo, all my friends were educators.  As I was working at the University at Buffalo as a Spanish-speaking clerk-typist, my supervisor at the time, Dr. Lillian Malavé asked me to help with the registration committee at the New York State Association for Bilingual Education (NYSABE) Conference (I have attended the NYSABE conference since then).  At that conference, I was able to experience the educational environment and what educators do to become better teachers and leaders. Participants worked together to discuss new practices, policies, and different strategies to teach English language learners how to maintain and value their first language and also learn English. This motivated me to become an educator. 2. What was your experience like as a student? Education was a priority with my household growing up.  We were nine siblings and eight of us achieved a bachelor’s degree or higher education. I moved to Buffalo, NY when I was 21 years old from Puerto Rico, I already had a 9-month old baby.  I had completed an Associate Degree in Secretarial Sciences from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico but did not speak or understand English at an academic/professional level, for that reason, I couldn’t work outside the house.  I was not able to communicate with people that spoke only English, for that reason, I decided to go back to college.   I attended Erie Community College for the purpose of learning English but decided to continue my studies at the University at Buffalo shortly thereafter.  I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Arts.  After that, I received a scholarship based on academic achievement that covered my tuition, fees, and books, which included a monthly stipend of $400 to finish my Masters in Elementary Education with a minor in Bilingual Education. I was able to experience learning English as Second-Language and went through the same experiences that students go through when they enter US schools without the English language base (supposedly) in mainstream US households.  3. Did you like school/learning? I loved going to school and learning new things.  I also enjoyed the social part of being in school. 4. How did your educational experience form your own educational leadership? I was fortunate to have great leaders in my life starting with my mother and my father.  My parents were my first educators. They taught me responsibility, and love for learning, and perseverance.  The experience as a graduate student at the University at Buffalo, and leaders like Dr. Lillian Malavé and other leaders from the New York State Association for Bilingual Education paved my way to be an educational leader.  I have been a member of NYSABE since 1989 and was elected to the Delegate Assembly and the Executive Board.  In 2007-2008, I became the New York State President of the organization.   All these experiences have helped me develop educational leadership. 5. When did you enter public education, what was the year, what was the role? I attended public education all my life from Kindergarten to grade 12.  I was a clerk typist from 1989 to 1995 -first at the University at Buffalo for a year. After that, I worked as a clerk-typist with the Buffalo Public Schools. In 1996, I started working as a teacher.  I worked as a support teacher for 11 years and worked as a Language Assessment Coordinator during Summers since 2004 and full-time from 2015 until now. 6. What was your last role?  Language Assessment Coordinator 7. What was your favorite/most informative role?  Each one of my roles has impacted my life.  My favorite was being a teacher because of the impact you can have on students.  My most informative role is the one I’m doing now as a Language Assessment Coordinator.  I’m able to assess students to help determine the best educational programs for them.  Also, I give orientations to parents about the different programs the Buffalo Public Schools offer and provide information pertaining to their rights as parents so they can make informed educational decisions for the child. 8. What advice do you have to educators facing the challenges they have today? Do not give up! We are living very difficult times and it