Sitting in the sunny, colorful lobby of Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School Wednesday morning, Maria Rincon, 41, pushed back her dark curls, smiled widely and spread her thumb and index fingers an inch apart to indicate the small amount — “only this much!” — of English she spoke when, seven years ago, she first came to the United States from Venezuela.
Now, she not only significantly has improved her English-speaking skills, but, thanks to her, hundreds of Cook students are becoming fluent in her native language, Spanish.
Rincon, whose children, Cesar Rincon-Rojas, 8, and Sebastian Rincon-Rojas, 6, both attend Cook, last month was recognized by Gov. Haley Barbour for her volunteer service at Cook and, on May 12 in Tupelo, will be honored as one of only five 2009 Jefferson Award winners in the state.
“I”m very happy because I know everybody can come and teach and do something fun for the children,” Rincon said. “I”ve learned English (from the students and Cook staff) and now I understand. I always say I learn for the children.”
Rincon now is an ever-present friendly face at Cook; she volunteers eight hours a day, five days a week.
Her story of service began four years ago when Cesar started school.
“One day, I lay down on my bed, saw the ceiling and I said, ”I need to do something,”” she recalled Wednesday.
In a letter nominating Rincon for the Jefferson Award, Cook Principal Lois Kappler, noted Rincon”s desire to be in her son”s classroom to help him overcome any language difficulties he faced.
“As that first year progressed, the students were intrigued with her accent and the use of different words,” Kappler wrote. “It was natural for her to share her language and also stories, songs and games from her native homeland. It was an instant love affair that started with the students. Before long, she was moving into the other kindergarten classes, introducing Spanish to all those students. By the end of the first year, our entire kindergarten class was on the way to becoming bilingual!”
In her second year as a volunteer, Rincon moved to the first grade to continue her students” Spanish lessons, but she also still worked with all the kindergarten students, teaching about 250 students each week.
Now, Cesar is in third grade, Sebastian is in first grade and Rincon teaches Spanish to 525 students in kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade.
Next year, Rincon also will teach fourth-graders.
And her duties are not limited to Spanish; Rincon also helps in many other ways, like straigtening and stocking bookshelves, watering plants, assisting students in the cafeteria and performing countless other services.
“I don”t know what we”d do if (she) was not on our campus,” Kappler wrote. “I cannot imagine that, even if we were able to pay a Spanish teacher, I could find one that would cover 25 classrooms each week and still tend to all the other details that Maria does.”
Beloved by the students, Rincon last year was stunned when the children of Cook threw a surprise birthday party for her.
She was presented with a rolling classroom cart, a CD player and dry erase markers and April 8 was designated “Mrs. Maria Day.”
It was a day she”ll never forget.
“I always say when we work together, we can make a difference,” Rincon said of volunteering. “I want to thank everybody in the school for opening the door and saying you can teach and the children for letting me teach Spanish.”
“Mrs. Maria Rincon has left a very deep impression on countless people because of the passion, zeal and spirit she brings everyday as a volunteer to the students and staff at Cook Fine Arts Magnet School,” said Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Dr. Del Phillips. “Through her dedication and untiring efforts to teach Spanish and share her native language and cultures to young children, she has touched their lives forever.”
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