Hellen Ramos
Hellen Ramos clearly remembers her first day of kindergarten at Margil Elementary School (now Margil Academy). She started mid-year, and when she and her mother entered the classroom, all of Hellen’s classmates were singing their ABCs. Hellen remembers telling her mom she was scared because she didn’t know what they are saying. The family had recently moved to San Antonio from Mexico, and Hellen spoke Spanish. The class was in English.
“I remember there was this little girl in the class who held out her hand and told me she would help me,” Hellen recalled. “I took her hand and just started saying my ABCs in Spanish. We did them every day, and in 2-3 months, I was able to say them in English with all of my classmates. But in that moment, I was so scared.”
The experience has stuck with her, and now as valedictorian of Lanier High School Class of 2020, Hellen will be attending Texas A&M University – San Antonio to pursue a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies – Early Childhood Education with a bilingual certification.
“Whenever I am afraid or think that I can’t do something, I think back about that first day at school, and that pushes me to try new things and pursue my dreams,” she said.
In addition to all of her academic classes at Lanier, Hellen currently participates in an internship program every day of the week in a third-grade classroom at Crockett Academy, helping her classroom teacher with administrative work as well as directly helping students in the classroom.
“My favorite thing about teaching is the progress,” she said. “It’s not the beginning or the end, but seeing with the little ones, they are all so ambitious, and they truly want to learn. The whole process of them doing their homework, or asking questions, is very rewarding.”
In the beginning of her high school career, Hellen didn’t know if she wanted to be a teacher. She knew she wanted to help people, specifically younger children, but she wasn’t sure teaching was the way to go. But, through her endorsement at Lanier, she realized that she was indeed, on the right path.
“When I started my internship last year, I remember telling my teacher, ‘I really DO want to do this,’” she said. “I didn’t have to go to college and figure out that really didn’t want to be on this path. I had the opportunity, thanks to my school and SAISD, to be able to experience that and have that knowledge now by the time I graduate.”
After she graduates from Texas A&M, Hellen wants to become a bilingual elementary school teacher at Margil Academy, where she began her educational journey in SAISD. Eventually, she plans to continue working her way up in the K-12 education system.
“After teaching, I want to become a school counselor, and eventually, a principal, as I gain more and more experience,” she said. “Education has been so important for me; it has been an equalizer for a lot of us. Not all of us are born with a lot of opportunities, and when you have an education, it allows you to preserver; it opens a lot of doors.”