RSS Feed
|
The Camarillo Acorn Thousand Oaks Acorn Moorpark Acorn - Simi Valley Acorn |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Mid-June a time for students, dads and lots of love
The first person in her family to attend college, Polanco earned a bachelor's degree in communications and journalism from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Polanco credits Driggs with helping her overcome challenges and reach graduation day. Polanco had been in Driggs' class a decade ago in Lennox, a low-income community near the Los Angeles airport where literacy levels often were low and half the students failed to even graduate from high school. Driggs said many children in the community were the sons and daughters of immigrants who dropped out of school to help support their families; others ended up in gangs or in jail. Today, Polanco's father works as a bus driver and her mother cleans homes. The family had moved from Guatemala to Texas in 1989 and then to California in 1992 when Polanco was in third grade. In sixth grade, she began her long friendship with Driggs, whom she still calls Miss McGregor, despite Driggs' marriage years ago.
After the Polanco family left Southern California and moved to Virginia, Driggs and the daughter kept in touch by phone, talking at least once a month. When she arrived at George Mason, Polanco said Driggs continued to serve as a mentor. "She told me a long time ago, before I even started, that she was going to be there," Polanco said. And she was. But during her junior year Polanco nearly dropped out of college. Balancing several jobs, an internship and studies had become too much to bear. In tears, Polanco turned to Driggs. "There were many times I was confused about what I wanted to do and how to go about it. My parents don't know much about college," she said.
"She was an angel sent from heaven," Polanco said. Other side of the tracks Driggs, on the other hand, grew up in San Marino, a wellto-do suburb of Pasadena and worlds away from Lennox. "Lennox was the kind of place my mom would say, when we went to the airport, 'Don't get off here.'" After graduating from UCLA with a master's degree in education, Driggs began working in Lennox. Driggs, who is bilingual in Spanish, didn't want the job at first. Her goal was to teach high school English, and she took the full-time position so she wouldn't have to work as a substitute elsewhere. Five years later she was still teaching at Lennox and had taken on a new appreciation for the community.
Teachers were encouraged to arrange activities with students outside of school. Driggs took her classes to basketball games and other events. She and another teacher raised enough money to take 10 students for one week to Washington, D.C., to learn about government. "I remember feeling close to all my students. I wasn't married, so they were my kids," said Driggs, who now has four children of her own. "They were easy to love because they needed love." Driggs finally left the Lennox job after she got married and moved to Boston. In 2003, Driggs took another turn along the trail and was hired to teach in the Oak Park Unified School District, where she remains today. Polanco, who would like to be a television news reporter, is now considering graduate school. She's encouraging her sister, a high school junior, to pursue college. "If I look at my own culture people don't go to college if they don't have the opportunity," said Polanco, whose two brothers decided not to attend college. "My parents always told us you have to go to college to become somebody different- learn more and earn more. It feels good to know that I accomplished a goal I set for myself a long time ago."
|
for larger version       Ads have a Patent Pending. Click Here for More Information |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)