ESU 13 Migrant Education News
Serving children and youth in agriculture: Winter 2018
Welcome, Ms. Mesa!
Annie Mesa has joined our team as our School/Home Liaison for migrant students at Bluffs Middle School and Scottsbluff High School. Ms. Mesa assists middle school students during the school day and provides after school homework assistance and mentoring at the middle school and high school. If you live in the Scottsbluff area, you may have met Ms. Mesa as she and Rosie have visited many of our parents. Our goal is to help your children succeed at school and in their future! We are happy to have Ms. Mesa on our team!
Expression of Gratitude to a Mother
“I've seen her on her darkest days and watched her struggle through the most soul-breaking challenges, but despite all this, she still lives life as if it never hurt her. This is how I want to live life. . . . .”
Maricela Garcia
This winter, we celebrate Maricela Garcia, a parent who has been involved with the Migrant Education Program for over 20 years. Maricela is not only an exemplary parent, but a witness to the academic success of her four beautiful daughters -- Sarahí, Sinahí, Madahí and Migdahí. Over the years, she has been an active voice and a strong support for migrant education. She has been a parent speaker at our ESU 13 Parent Advisory Meetings, and served on our local program's Comprehensive Needs Assessment Committee. At one of these meetings, she explained that the program had served her daughters well during elementary and middle school and that they no longer needed tutoring or summer school, but that they didn't know how to plan for college and careers and needed support in that area. Maricela encouraged us to offer services that would help high school students plan for their future. Thanks to Maricela's input, we began sending teens to Youth Leadership Events such as Latino Summit, Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference, Big Red Summer Academic Camps, and Latina Summer Academy. She has encouraged her children and other parents to take part in the these events that the Migrant Education Program offers to its students. She attributes a large part of her children’s success to the services and educational opportunities that have been extended by ESU 13’s Migrant Education Program. We attribute the start of these programs for teens to Maricela. She saw a need, and joined the group that changed the program for the better.
Her Daughter: Migdahi Garcia
Below is a ‘statement of gratitude to a mother’ that Migdahí submitted in one of her scholarship applications. Migdahí’s statement was so moving, we decided to publish it in our newsletter.
When asked to describe the role that a mentor has played in helping her confront the adversities in her life, and what role she believes mentors will fill throughout her undergraduate career, Migdahí responded as follows:
She holds beauty both within and out. She is a hailstorm when she is angry, but she is the universe and all of its wonders when she finds happiness. She is the definition of love and because of her, I am the strong woman I am today. She is a superhero in disguise, but to most, she is known as my mother. From a young age, my mother taught me to use my voice. To never let anyone make me feel as if I were inferior and to make sure that my mark on this world was so big, people would have no other choice but to acknowledge who I am. The person I look up to most is none other than the woman who has been to hell and back too many times to count and because of how she has taught me to live life, I don't feel as if I could ever be incapable. Because of the woman who has put my life before her own, the woman who left her home and family behind, my ideals and morals will always hold greater influence in my life than anything else. The guidance of my greatest mentor will get me through many of the challenges life has to show me.
I've seen her on her darkest days and watched her struggle through the most soul breaking challenges, but despite all this, she still lives life as if it never hurt her. This is how I want to live life.
Migdahi Garcia will be graduating at the end of this school year. She has been involved in many projects and significant events as a high school student. She was featured in the ‘Gallary of the Stars’ at the Latino Summit in 2014, as a student role model. One year she earned the highest test score in the statewide NeSA writing exam. Her exceptional writing skills have now opened opportunities to work as an independent reporter for the Gering Courier Newspaper, and more recently, as an independent journalist for the Scottsbluff Star-Herald Newspaper. In addition to being a member of the Honor Society at Gering High School, she has made Honor Roll - time and again. An Honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades in their school work.
Migdahi's family has moved many times throughout her life, between different states and different school districts in Nebraska, but she has succeeded despite the obstacles. Our hope is that each of the students in our program can overcome the challenges life gives them and succeed as Migdahi has succeeded. She has shown us that with hard work, strong family support, and education, anything is possible!
Submitted by: Rosie Cobos
ESU 13 Migrant Education Program Featured on National Website
ESU 13 Migrant Education Program
The ESU 13 Migrant Education Program is a Title 1, Part C program under the Nebraska Department of Education. The mission of the Migrant Education Program is to ensure that migrant children fully benefit from the same free public education provided to other children. To achieve this, the MEP supports educational programs for migrant children to help reduce the educational disruptions and other problems that result from repeated moves.
Email: krogers@esu13.org
Website: http://esu13.socs.net/vnews/display.v/SEC/Departments%7CMigrant%20Education
Location: 4215 Avenue I, Scottsbluff, NE, United States
Phone: (308) 635-3696
Facebook: facebook.com/ESU13MEP
Twitter: @esu13migrant