Folks should know that while many of our public schools languish, here is

where our hard-earned taxpayer dollars are going. Disturbing key quote: "At this point, the public has no IDEA just how much taxpayer money has been squandered by “a small number” of its leaders." 

Thanks to Dr. Diane Ravitch for sharing.

-Angela

The Fall of the IDEA Charter Execs: No Luxury Jet Can Save Us Now.

May 25, 2021

The May 25, 2021 Houston Chronicle reports of the firing of IDEA Public Schools charter chain CEO JoAnn Gama and CFO Irma Muñoz “after a forensic review found ‘substantial evidence’ that top leaders at the state’s largest charter network misused money and staff for personal gain ‘in a manner to avoid detection by the standard external audit and internal control processes that the Board had in place at the time,'” according to IDEA board president Al Lopez in the letter to IDEA parents, posted below.

letter-_idea-public-schools-_-audit-and-firing_5.25.21Download

The Chronicle continues:

The firings followed an anonymous tip received after the departures last year of two other high-ranking IDEA leaders, former CEO Tom Torkelson and former CFO Wyatt Truscheit. Lopez’s letter says the allegations of misconduct involve “a small number of IDEA senior leaders,” though it does not name any individuals alleged to have engaged in improper spending or use of staff.

IDEA’s finances came under fire in late 2019, following the board’s quickly-reversed decision to lease a private jet and the disclosure that the charter network spent money on luxury suites at San Antonio’s AT&T Center, among other decisions. Torkelson resigned in May 2020, agreeing to a $900,000 settlement payout with the charter’s board.

And just that fast, both Gama and Muñoz were scrubbed from the IDEA leadership page.

I wanted some background on Gama and Muñoz, which I found on this archived IDEA leadership page from February 17, 2021.

Here’s Muñoz’s archived bio sketch:

Irma Muñoz was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. She graduated from the University of California at Davis, and from Harvard University’s School of Government.

Prior to joining IDEA, Irma worked as Sr. Director of New Markets and Spokesperson for GMAC Financial, a subsidiary of General Motors. In this capacity she was responsible for all marketing initiatives within the domestic Latino, African American and Asian communities.

Before joining GMAC Financial, Irma worked for Fannie Mae assisting the organization’s Sr. Leadership Team on a variety of efforts, including process re-engineering, research and development and business strategy implementation. She also worked with the World Bank on projects regarding the development of a securitization platform, housing finance and policy in a variety of countries throughout Latin America. Her work led to the issuance of these countries’ first mortgage back securities and ultimately the establishment of a secondary mortgage market.

Irma joined IDEA Public Schools in December of 2008 as Vice President of Strategy and Growth.  In 2009 she was promoted to IDEA’s senior leadership team and now serves as Chief Operating Officer. In this capacity she oversees the Department of Marketing & Communications, Student Recruitment, Information Technology, Data Management, Transportation, Child Nutrition, Facilities Maintenance and School Operations.

And “co-founder, CEO, and superintendent” Gama’s archived bio, with a touch of Torkelson:

JoAnn Gonzales Gama was born and raised in the north side of Houston, near IDEA Hardy. After graduating from Sam Houston High School in 1993, JoAnn attended Boston University on a full scholarship.

In 1997, she joined Teach For America, a national corps of high-achieving leaders who commit two years to teach in public schools in low-income communities. Upon moving to the Rio Grande Valley, JoAnn enrolled at the University of Texas-Pan American and earned her master’s degree in Educational Leadership.

JoAnn taught 4th and 5th grade English as a Second Language in Donna, Texas. After one successful year of teaching, JoAnn was nominated by her peers as the campus Teacher of the Year.

n 1998, JoAnn co-founded IDEA Academy within Donna Independent School District with fellow Teach For America corps member, Tom Torkelson. After one year as a “school within a school,” JoAnn and Tom applied for a state charter in order to open their own charter school. In August 2000, they opened the IDEA Academy with 150 students in grades 4-8.

As co-founder and Superintendent, JoAnn has helped lead the replication efforts of the original school. Currently, IDEA Public Schools educates nearly 66,000 students in 120 schools across eight regions—the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Southern Louisiana, Tarrant County, Permian Basin and Greater Houston.

 
The mission of IDEA Public Schools is to prepare students from underserved communities for success in college and citizenship. 

In 2009, U.S. News and World Report ranked IDEA College Preparatory Donna as the 13th best high school and second best charter high school in the nation. That same year, IDEA Public Schools was the first-ever charter organization to be named the best school system in the state of Texas (H-E-B Excellence in Education Award). Today, The Washington Post’s latest rankings of America’s Most Challenging High Schools ranked all seven of IDEA’s eligible College Preparatory high schools in the top 200 high schools nationwide and in the top 50 in Texas.

In 2017, IDEA Donna, IDEA Quest and IDEA Frontier were ranked in the top 1% of all public high schools in the United States and the top 40 best public charter schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

JoAnn received the prestigious Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership in 2009 and was appointed to President Barack Obama’s White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2010. In 2018, JoAnn was inducted into the National Charter School Hall of Fame. She was also honored by Teach For America with their Alumni Leadership Award. In 2020, JoAnn was appointed to be IDEA’s Chief Executive Officer and currently serves as the network’s CEO and Superintendent.  

But full Torkelson is so much better. Here’s Torkelson’s archived bio, technically dated July 2020, but he was already gone, having resigned following that whole luxury-jet-Spurs-season-tickets-luxury-box- etc. public revelation in December 2019:

Upon graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in economics in 1997, Tom joined Teach For America and taught fourth grade in Donna, Texas for three years, after which he successfully launched the IDEA Academy in 2000, serving as the first board president and founding principal.

At 24 years of age, Tom was then Texas’ youngest-ever charter school founder. Since 2000, Tom has led the replication efforts of the original school. System-wide there are now more than 53,000 students enrolled in the 96 schools that comprise IDEA Public Schools.
The mission of IDEA Public Schools is to prepare students from underserved communities for success in college and citizenship.

By 2009, the U.S. News and World Report ranked IDEA Donna College Preparatory as the 13th best high school and second best charter high school in the nation. Also in 2009, IDEA Public Schools was the first-ever charter organization to be named the best school system in the state of Texas and received the H-E-B Excellence in Education Award. Today, The Washington Post’s latest rankings of America’s Most Challenging High Schools ranked all seven of IDEA’s eligible College Preparatory high schools in the top 200 high schools nationwide and in the top 50 in Texas.

Tom has been widely recognized in a variety of publications, including being featured in 2009 by Time magazine as Wendy Kopp’s pick for the 100 most influential global citizens. Tom is the recipient of the prestigious Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership (2009), University of Michigan Ross Business School’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2010), the Freddy Fender Humanitarian Award (2008), and served as Chairman of the 2007 National Charter Schools Conference. In 2018, Tom was inducted into the National Charter School Hall of Fame. Tom is often called upon to provide expert testimony to state and local officials on issues of education policy and school choice.

An avid runner and frequent Ironman triathlon competitor, Tom and his wife, Dr. Nina Lee Torkelson, live in the Rio Grande Valley with their three children, Lincoln, Liam, and Gwendolyn. 

In April of 2020, after 20 years, Tom resigned from IDEA Public Schools to embark on the next chapter of his career.

I dig the airbrushed, final sentence. Torkelson did jump nonprofits, moving on to promote charter schools in San Antonio. However, given that four IDEA leaders (including both cofounders) are connected to “‘substantial evidence’ that top leaders at the state’s largest charter network misused money and staff for personal gain,” having Torkelson on one’s charter-school-promoting team might not be the best marketing strategy at present.

*Two Teach for America (TFA) charter school cofounders allegedly rip off taxpayers with extravagant spending and are now no longer connected to the chain they founded as a result.*

Also not good TFA-promo fodder.

Here’s former CFO Wyatt Truschiet’s archived bio just before his 2020 exit. The last paragraph makes for an interesting post-disgraced read in 2021:

Wyatt earned a B.A. in Government from Valparaiso University, a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting (cum laude) from the University of Missouri, and a M.B.A. from Baylor University.
Wyatt began his financial career with the national public accounting firm Deloitte & Touché in St. Louis, MO., and has served in various senior level financial positions over the past 30 years specializing in entrepreneurial, multi-location, accelerated growth organizations, notably as Vice President Finance with Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Dallas, TX, and as Chief Financial Officer in the private equity sector for the past 8 years prior to joining IDEA.

As Chief Financial Officer for IDEA Public Schools, Wyatt Truscheit is responsible for all aspects of IDEA’s financial operations, including capital markets, banking and treasury, financial and management accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, payroll, benefits administration, procurement, risk management, human resources administration, and financial regulatory compliance.  Wyatt also chairs the Budget & Finance Committee of the IDEA Board of Directors.

Truscheit: “Responsible for all aspects.” Like luxury jets and Spurs tickets?

At this point, the public has no IDEA just how much taxpayer money has been squandered by “a small number” of its leaders.

More to come, it seems.

Rep. James Talarico questions Rep. Steve Toth on Senate Amendments to Texas' "Anglo Supremacy Bill" —HB 3979

As exemplified by this exchange by Rep. Talarico and bill author, Rep. Toth,  powerful statements are being made right now on the passage of HB 3979, in what I term, Texas' "Anglo Supremacy Bill." Texans were so desperate to get this passed—on the same level as Senate Bill 7 as addressed in my earlier post—that they violated the Texas constitution to make this happen. A good number of attorneys are looking at this right now and this, of course, goes before the Texas State Board of Education where the fight will continue. 

Read this pertinent New York Times piece, "Texas Pushes to Obscure the State’s History of Slavery and Racism.

The most important takeaway here is that Republicans' prioritizing of both HB 3979 and Senate Bill 7 speak volumes to the end-goal of disenfranchising our lower-income, communities of color in our state.

Kudos to Ana Ramon, Morgan Craven and many others with the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (TLEEC) for their unflagging attention and organizing around this terrible bill. Let's not lose hope, my friends. The fight is still only just beginning and justice will ultimately prevail.

Do watch the video where Rep. Talarico effectively unmasks this Anglo supremacist agenda.

-Angela Valenzuela

#AngloSupremacy

#EndAngloSupremacy 

Rep. James Talarico questions Rep. Steve Toth on Senate Amendments to HB 3979 in the House Chamber on May 28, 2021.

These Texas republicans' days are numbered and they know it. They legislate like they're backed into a corner, fighting for their lives despite being the party in power. And they still lack a legislative fix to the Texas electrical grid where over a hundred Texans lost their lives in February's winter storm.

Their focus instead was on disenfranchising lower-income, people of color from the ballot box. In the long term, and the short term, as well, this is not sustainable. 

There is no grand, lofty vision here. It's all about survival and protecting their incumbencies, the lowest level of resonance for a polity. 

They're showing their every card and can no longer hide from their self-serving decisions and commitments, even despite their 6am vote when none of us were awake to observe this. 

My friends, it is abundantly clear to me that if political disenfranchisement is their only play, they do not deserve to govern. For the rest of us, let this be the very same ground for radical hope.

To members of Congress, do take notice and pass "For the People Act (HR 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. 

-Angela Valenzuela

In 6 a.m. vote, divided Texas Senate approves GOP elections bill after all-night debate

Chuck Lindell

Austin American-Statesman

May 30, 2021

The Texas Senate, voting along party lines, approved a sweeping Republican elections bill shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday after a lively overnight debate led mostly by Democrats that had begun 7½ hours earlier.

Senate Bill 7, known as the Election Integrity Protection Act, must be approved by the Texas House before midnight Sunday. The bill is eligible for a vote at 4:50 p.m. according to the House calendar.

Democrats criticized the bill's restrictions, particularly a ban on 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting that was popular with nonwhite voters last year in Harris County, for disproportionately affecting people of color.

"I represent a majority African American district, and we benefited from the drive-thru voting that you're trying to ban now. I feel like you're coming for my district," said Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, adding that leaders with the FBI, Department of Justice and Texas secretary of state's office acknowledged that the 2020 election was safe, secure and free of widespread fraud.

Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, said SB 7 was an overreaction.

"We've had next to no fraud, and this has been documented at the federal level and the state level. But instead you're rewriting the Election Code," she said.

A look at the bill:GOP unveils final version of Texas elections bill, which includes more restrictions

SB 7 is one of several GOP efforts in statehouses around the country to narrow voting opportunities, particularly in urban counties that tend to vote Democratic, after Republicans echoed former President Donald Trump's claims that last year's presidential election was stolen. No widespread fraud was ever uncovered.

But Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, defended his bill as Saturday became Sunday, and he was still at it as sunrise neared — rejecting claims that the bill targeted nonwhite voters or that it was a solution in search of a problem.

"The provisions apply equally across the state. They are not limited to a particular group or particular area," he said.

A rush to debate

The Senate and House had passed widely different versions of SB 7, leading to a conference committee to work out the differences.

That committee's final version of the bill was filed and distributed to senators at 3:36 p.m. Saturday. Less than three hours later, Hughes stood in the Senate and proposed waiving the rule that requires a 24-hour delay before the bill could be considered by the Senate.

Democrats, who had been huddling in private to discuss their options only a few minutes earlier, objected to the speed of events.

More:After House roadblock, GOP senators revive bill limiting school discussions of race, social issues

"I would ask that we take the time that's necessary to understand the changes, to understand the entirety of this before we are asked to vote on a bill that affects every single voter in Texas," said Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson.

Hughes replied that he planned to give senators a private briefing at 8 p.m., bringing them up to speed on a bill that grew from 23 pages to 67 pages in conference committee — adding that there would be plenty of time to discuss SB 7 in public during what he expected to be a long and vigorous floor debate that would not begin until after 10 p.m. to allow more time to study the legislation.

Sen. Jose Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said the late debate would occur when most Texans would not be watching in person or online.

"How did you decide that 10 p.m. tonight was the right time? Does that seem like the best time to be creating very important policy-making decisions after 10 p.m.?" he said. "Tomorrow we have the full day to debate any legislative measures, do we not?"

But Hughes noted the looming deadline — all conference committee reports must get a vote by midnight Sunday — and Republicans voted as a bloc to waive the 24-hour delay.

The Senate returned to SB 7 shortly after 10:30 p.m. by taking up a resolution giving the conference committee permission to include provisions that had not been part of the bills passed by the House and Senate.

Hughes, who was co-chairman of the conference committee, said many of the sections added to SB 7 were taken from other GOP election bills that had passed the Senate or were considered in committee, while other ideas cropped up during negotiations with his co-chairman, Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park.

Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, called the resolution an affront to the legislative process.

"This seems more like you’re trying to get in bills that you couldn’t pass, or you thought of some other way to do some things that many of the members of this chamber don’t want you to do," Johnson said.

After the Republican majority voted to approve Senate Resolution 547, senators began debating SB 7 at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

A pattern of late nights

Partisan disagreements have pushed lawmakers into several late-night and early-morning sessions in the past several weeks as Republicans pressed an aggressively conservative agenda this session.

A rancorous debate over SB 7 pushed the Texas House beyond 3 a.m. on May 7, setting the stag for this weekend's showdown.

And a fight over House Bill 3979 found the Senate voting at 2 a.m. on May 22 over legislation to limit how public school teachers handle discussions of race and racism in the classroom.

The Senate made wholesale changes on the floor, putting the bill in danger when House Democrats successfully argued that several amendments violated House rules.

With no time to fix the bill by traditional means, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick allowed Hughes to make a motion to recede, a little-known parliamentary maneuver that stripped the bill of all Senate changes and passed HB 3979 in its original House form on a party-line vote.

Democratic objections that the Texas Constitution did not allow bills to be passed that late in the session were overruled. 

The session ends on Monday, with lawmakers still not having agreed upon priority legislation, including fixing the Texas electrical grid after millions of Texans were plunged into cold and darkness during the deadly February winter storms.

To All Texas Educators: Join the Texas State Historical Association in its Condemnation Against HB3979

Requesting TSHA stand with educators and oppose HB 3979

We are scholars and teachers of Texas history who oppose HB 3979.

As the “oldest learned society in our state (1897),” the Texas State Historical Association continues to “bring lay and professional historians together to document and celebrate the state’s complex and diverse history,” as noted in the TSHA’s Core Values Statement. We, as historians, admire the TSHA’s commitment to our state’s rich and diverse history.

We ask that the TSHA continue this legacy and commitment to our state’s diverse history and in meeting its Mission Statement, particularly its Diversity Statement, officially renounce HB3979 for the following reasons:

As professional historians, we cannot ignore the devastating impact this bill will have on the entire educational enterprise--not only in K-12, but also in higher education. We note that the American Historical Association has condemned the bill, warning in particular that it “is likely to prohibit professional teachers from including in their courses standard content required in Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment American history courses offered at the high school level.”

Students have a right to learn an accurate account of history, including the darkest parts of our history and the long efforts for freedom and social justice. A truthful accounting of history will allow students to learn the lessons of the past to help build a more equal and inclusive future. To teach about our state’s dark chapters and its links to contemporary challenges is not to remake or re-write facts, it is about evolving interpretations that are at the heart of our historical profession. .

This bill places history and civics teachers in a professionally compromising position in the classroom. It is impossible to teach the history of Texas without discussing race, gender, religion, or injustice. That inaccurate account of history would not meet the TSHA’s Diversity Statement, “Healing through History,” that aims to “provide the histories of all underrepresented and overlooked groups as well as those whose stories are newly emerging.”

HB 3979’s broad prohibitions seek to silence any state employee “in any state agency” to speak freely about current issues that simply cannot be understood without historical facts. While the bill directly impacts public school teachers, it no doubt will have an equally harmful effect on those of us who help to train those educators to think critically about the past and our present and who then impart that knowledge on Texas youth. HB 3979 is in direct opposition to the very freedoms we in Texas claim to support. Many of us who support the TSHA do so because it represents the best in historical knowledge and breadth and we follow its lead in helping others better appreciate the richness of our state’s history and its role in shaping Texas today.

We strongly urge the TSHA to stand with educators and oppose HB 3979.

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Critical Race Theory Needs To Be In Our Schools: ACT Now and OPPOSE HB3979

So glad to see University of Texas Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion Esther Calzada and  Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs Cossy Hough—both in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin—weigh in on House Bill 3979.  I concur with Deans Calzada and Cossy Hough that we should all "reject the neoliberal premise that teaching children to be kind, accepting and colorblind, while ignoring race and racism, fosters equity and equality."

CRT which is not an ideology but a framework, helps all prepare for a diverse world to understand the history of race that is actually not simply a state or national phenomenon, but global, as well.

What can you do? Here's the scoop at this very moment:

While HB 3979 passed the Senate last Saturday at 2am [see video of Senate Floor Debate], the fight against that bill continues because the Senate added amendments. If the author accepts the amendments, then the house and senate versions of the bill need to get reconciled. Reach out to House Speaker Dade Phelan to register your concerns.

-Angela Valenzuela

#EndWhiteSupremacy

May 25, 2021

Critical Race Theory Needs To Be In Our Schools

By: Esther Calzada & Cossy Hough

Columns appearing on the service and this webpage represent the views of the authors, not of The University of Texas at Austin.

Texas legislators recently advanced two bills that restrict or ban the use of critical race theory in public schools. Much like bills in other states during the past few months, the Texas bills restrain discussions about race and racism in the classroom.

Ironically, critical race theory is founded on the principle that no race is “inherently superior to another” as outlined in the Texas bills. It also recognizes that racism is not driven by individual racist acts. It seems, then, that the proposed bills are not designed to promote a spirit of equality, as professed by their proponents, but instead to protect white people from critical conversations about race.

Fear is a powerful motivator. At issue seems to be the fear that white people are and will be victims in the dredging up of an unjust past. This rhetoric of fear was on prominent display when Idaho legislators described critical race theory as “indoctrination,” “poison” and “garbage.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell recently argued against historical narratives that highlight systemic racism, saying, “Americans never decided our children should be taught that our country is inherently evil.” Max Eden called it “morally abhorrent” and “demonizing” of white people.

These arguments intentionally center the fears of white people while neglecting the realities of Americans who are not white.

Critical race theory is designed to focus attention on the realities of people of color by illuminating the pervasive elements of racism that permeate societal systems and structures in the U.S. today. It should not be surprising that historical events and institutions as damaging and dehumanizing as the genocide of First Americans and the slave trade in the U.S. from 1619 to 1865 have had far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on our society.

What critical race theory asks is that we consider these impacts. That we look for remnants of the norms that were established when only white men were granted citizenship and the right to vote and own property. That we evaluate how those norms still disadvantage people of color today.

To be sure, these atrocities took place centuries ago, and most Americans view them as abhorrent. Many even argue that since the days of colonization and slavery, our country has fought for and achieved racial equality. But a wealth of data contradicts this conclusion. Considering these disparities in the context of our history, is it too much to ask white people to critically reflect on the past?

The history and current structures of racial oppression must be included in the narratives that students learn about in schools. Voices and experiences of people of color throughout U.S. history must be amplified. By broadening understanding about race, critical race theory introduces new perspectives that encourage students to be critical thinkers who can dissect information and form new ideas. There pedagogical values are a hallmark of educational excellence, but they are being challenged specifically as applied to issues of race. White parents and educators must ask themselves why this is the case.

We can all agree that each student shouldn’t feel “psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex” in their classrooms. But white children can learn about the “sins of their fathers,” and about present-day racism, without concluding that they are inherently evil. To suggest otherwise underestimates the cognitive abilities of children. And what about the psychological well-being Black, Indigenous and other children of color?

Traditional curricula do not validate the historical and present-day realities they know to be true for people of color in the U.S. In fact, children — regardless of their own race — are arguably better equipped to learn about and discuss racism than are adults, who, having been socialized to a culture of silence on the topic of race, often feel said psychological distress.

As professors committed to educational excellence for all students, we reject the misinformation and propaganda that capitalizes on the fear that white students will be demonized in discussions about racial injustice. We reject the neoliberal premise that teaching children to be kind, accepting and colorblind, while ignoring race and racism, fosters equity and equality. We call for critical race theory in our classrooms.

Esther Calzada is associate dean for equity and inclusion in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

Cossy Hough is assistant dean for undergraduate programs in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

A version of this op-ed appeared in the Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express News and MSN.

House Bill 1504 Update: Senate Floor Vote Occurs tomorrow on Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Friends and Colleagues:

SUPER EXCITING! PLEASE TAKE ACTION AND SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORKS.

Here is the pertinent message on HB 1504 from Tony Diaz:

TX HB1504 is poised to make history. The Texas Senate will vote on the bill Wednesday, May 26, 2021. 

We need you to call your Texas State Senator today.

Find out who your Senator is by visiting: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home.

You can find the phone number for your senator by visiting: https://senate.texas.gov/members.php

Call at least your Texas Senator. If you have time, call several or call all 31. 

This is a link that includes a post of the phone number of all 31 Texas State Senators and talking points about this bill that would make Mexican American History and African American History count towards high school graduation requirements if a school chooses: 

http://bit.ly/HB1504TXSenators

Or visit my blog at: www.TonyDiaz.net

www.TexasSizedHistory.com

I want it for me': 1st-generation College Student Beats COVID Barriers to stay in School

This in-depth account of college student, Guillerminia Gutierrez Martinez' struggles, with getting through college provides a good sense of what many immigrant families are coping with in the context of the current pandemic. 

If navigating college is hard in normal times, one can only imagine just how difficult things are for them now. Most positively, it points to the resilience, intelligence, aspirations, and dogged determination of students that emanate from among the most marginal sectors of society.  

I so admire them. Thanks to Jorge Haynes for sharing.

-Angela Valenzuela

Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY

Published 5:20 PM CDT May. 20, 2021 Updated 4:35 PM CDT May. 21, 2021

Leer en español

Guillermina Gutierrez Martinez picked at her cuticles and let out a shaky breath. Her left leg bounced nervously as her right foot nudged the accelerator. She balled up her fist and pushed away a tear, clearing her vision of the road ahead. 

Will they think I’m a failure? Will they lie to their friends because they’re ashamed?

Crammed into her 2007 Ford Fusion were remnants of her life in the University of Washington dorms: A king-size grey Mexican blanket, storage containers bursting with winter clothes, a suitcase stuffed with textbooks and a camera. This is what she’d packed two years ago when she left her hometown to chase a college education, the dream of so many first-generation Americans and their parents. 

It was May 2020. Two months earlier, COVID-19 had exploded just 13 miles from UW, shuttering campus and moving classes online. Guillermina thought the extra free time meant she could take on more; while enrolled in 15 credits she doubled her work hours from 20 per week to 40 at the downtown Seattle Target, desperate to help her family as the economy cratered. But the dueling responsibilities crushed her. She fell behind on homework. When she discovered she could withdraw without financial penalty in the seventh week of a 10-week spring term, Guillermina dropped out.
Guillermina Gutierrez Martinez talks about her upbringing while driving around Mount Vernon, Washington, her hometown. A keychain replica of the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street is pictured hanging on her keys. The souvenir from New York City reminds Gutierrez Martinez to keep pushing herself.BRIAN MUNOZ, USA TODAY

One week later, she was hurtling backward: back to her house, back to parents she couldn’t look in the eye. 

She sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve as “Breathe,” from the “In the Heights” soundtrack, filtered through her car speakers: 

When Guillermina first heard that song in high school, she made a silent promise to herself that she’d get out too — to get an education, a profession, her own home. 

Continue reading here.