LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Milena Vasquez was nominated by Mandy Efird, the parent of a student.

"My son had Ms. Vasquez as his kindergarten teacher in a Spanish Dual Immersion program," said Efird. "During school closure, the district gave all kindergarten students the exact same work packet in English. This is the first year for Dual Immersion in our district. Ms. Vasquez did not miss a beat. She and the co-teacher immediately started planning Google Meet sessions to work with students in Spanish. They created a Google Classroom with assignments in Spanish that we could use at home. My son met with one of the teachers four times a week and the other teacher three times a week in groups of three or four students. He even had some one-on-one sessions. This kept him engaged in learning Spanish, which I could not do for him at home. Ms. Vasquez and the co-teacher even planned an evening event for families to make homemade tortillas. She was available through Class Dojo and by email to answer questions I had along the way, and she was flexible with schedules to adjust when times didn't work for us. Ms. Vasquez is a hero to my son! We are so thankful for her!"