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Alums teach at alma maters

Latino instructors set examples for students

Lupita Vacaneri, teacher and former student of Frank Elementary School, with a student.

Georgann Yara

When Armando Valenzuela III graduated from Tucson’s Sunnyside High School in 1995, he planned to never step foot on the campus again.

“When I graduated, Sunnyside was kind of rough. I didn’t want to come back,” says Valenzuela, who was a multi-sport student athlete.

Four years later, with a degree from the University of Arizona and a student teacher of the year award, Valenzuela was heavily recruited by polished high schools, including Catalina Foothills. But something didn’t click, and Valenzuela decided to make one last stop before making his decision.

“Let me go to the last place I want to go,” he recalls saying.

Immediately, he felt at home. He felt a connection with Sunnyside students and was welcomed back with open arms. He made his choice and 12 years later, he remains.

This year, Valenzuela took the curriculum specialist position at the district office, but, missing being around students and the school he once ran from, he will return to Sunnyside to teach English next year.

“The biggest thing is that when I look out to the population, I pretty much see myself. I’m not teaching foreigners, I’m teaching what I used to be,” he says. “I’ve walked the walk.”

SHARING DREAMS, EXPERIENCES

Like Valenzuela, many Latinos and Latinas return to their alma maters as role models, hoping to bring their personal experiences to the students who occupy the chairs where they once sat.

History and geography teacher Ramiro A. Quezada Jr. graduated from Tolleson High School in 1966. He started teaching at Tolleson High in 1976, and has coached practically every sport. He went to Arizona State University on a wrestling scholarship and went on to earn a master’s in secondary education, also from ASU. He takes pride in seeing former students continue on to college and succeed.

“I really thought I could inspire kids to get an education and do well in high school. I didn’t have any role models growing up. We were migrant workers all my life,” he says.

Counselor David Hernandez graduated from Tempe’s Marcos de Niza High School in 1988 and works with students from Guadalupe, his hometown. With a degree in sociology from ASU and two masters from Northern Arizona University in educational psychology and guidance counseling, he tries to share the enthusiasm he had in high school.

“I had such a good time. It was always in the back of my mind that I’d end up coming back. It’s rewarding to see the kids graduate and make it through,” he says. “I think it’s important for us to be role models.”

When Lupita Vacaneri earned her elementary education degree from ASU, she wanted to teach at Frank Elementary School, where she attended grades K-6, in Guadalupe, where she still lives.

The first in her family to graduate from college, Vacaneri said that her second-grade students get excited when they see her at the store or riding around town.

“There’s a special connection. I understand the culture and what’s going on at home,” she says. “My message to them is always, ‘You can succeed.’”