Courtesy of San Benito High School:
Two of San Benito High School Visual and Performing Arts teacher Tracey Torres’ students, juniors Melissa Ruiz and Isabel Muñoz, won an award certificate and a $550 scholarships through the California Teachers Association’s 2018-2019 César E. Chávez Memorial Education Awards Program.
Ruiz created what Torres called “an amazing artwork that demonstrates an understanding of the vision and guiding principles by which César E. Chávez lived his life.” Munoz, the teacher noted, “eloquently spoke to the nature of how she and her Raza follow the same principles of César E. Chávez, through nonviolence, self determination, social justice for farmworkers, human and civil rights, teamwork and collaboration, empowerment to the disenfranchised, and innovation and education for all students of color.”
“I am extremely proud of my two first-generation Mexican-American students who took the time and effort to document their history onto both written and pictorial storytelling,” Torres said. Muñoz’s winning essay and Ruiz’s winning artwork will be put on display in the CTA Headquarters Building in Burlingame. Additionally, CTA intends to publish an article about the award recipients in a future issue of California Educator.
