THE FREE PRESS (Kinston, North Carolina) October 9, 2006
Pink Hill’s Rivera named Migrant Teacher of Year
PINK HILL — Claudia Rivera is as much a minister as she is a teacher. An English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Pink Hill Elementary, Rivera is also a lifeline to migrant families who are drawn to agricultural jobs in Lenoir and Duplin counties. “My job is to help (families) adjust to the new community and requirements for the school,” Rivera said. “After I make the first contact, when they enroll their children in school, I start knowing about their needs and who they are. The first thing is finding homes and clothes for them.” After six years there, Rivera is the link allowing the school to embrace the newest and neediest members in its community. Teachers and staff all pitch in with canned goods, clothes and other necessities when Rivera gives the S.O.S. for a new family. Rivera didn’t expect recognition for doing what she feels is her job. But in September, at the annual migrant educator’s conference in Durham, she was named North Carolina Migrant Teacher of the Year for 2005-06. “I was astonished,” she said. “I thought I was going to faint. It was a real surprise — but a nice surprise.” The award didn’t come as a surprise to others in the district. “She’s very worthy. She’s very dedicated and works very hard to help those families,” said Diane Lynch, Lenoir County Schools’ assistant superintendent for instruction. “She wears many hats as a migrant educator. She has to definitely be a people person and have a lot of people skills. She also plays a social worker role to work with families to make sure services are getting to them, and she’s an educator to the whole family.” Rivera came to America from Bogotá, Colombia, with her husband, Hugo Quintero, and son, Julian Quintero, through Visiting International Faculty (VIF), a cultural exchange program that brings experienced teachers from foreign countries to the U.S. Her tenure here was to last three years, but she’s found a home in Pink Hill. “I didn’t know that I was going to be here, in this little town, but I just love it,” Rivera said. “I decided to stay here after my three years.” You’ll often find Rivera in her Pink Hill classroom working late nights and weekends to help coordinate aid efforts, keep in touch with families, and plan ESL lessons for each grade level. “It’s a challenge trying to get all students to the desired level. They come from many different backgrounds and skill levels,” she said. “I try to teach families how to work with their students. All parents want to help their children.” She quickly realized she is cultural educator as well as a language teacher and aid worker. Rivera is known for teaching folk dances to students as an extracurricular activity. Students perform the dances at schools and cultural celebrations. In a small town on the southern tip of Lenoir County, Rivera knows that giving translates beyond cultural and linguistic barriers. “I find that people are sometimes afraid of approaching people who speak a different language because they don’t know the cultural values of those people,” Rivera said. “I say, relax and just try to do it. Even though it’s not the same language, there are other ways to communicate besides speaking.”
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