Ramona Salazar, who now teaches language arts and social studies to sixth graders at Bernalillo Public School in Bernalillo, was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a teacher when the Bilingual Program in Bernalillo offered her a fellowship to pursue her studies. The quality of her contribution as a teacher's assistant in that program had already set her apart as an outstanding educator. Mrs. Salazar tries to be "available to students, to listen to them, to help them make choices, and to always include them in decisions that affect their lives." For Mrs. Salazar, excellent standards and high expectations are the rule; these, however, must be stressed in a context that reflects the linguistic and cultural differences shared by the students. "School should be a place," she says, "where students of all heritage and languages are able to identify with their culture with respect and integrity." Mrs. Salazar dreams of someday writing a collection of fiction that is premised on a single continuous narrative, so that "children will look forward to the next publication in the series."
University of New Mexico, B.A.
