Woman of the Year

by Sharon Sanchez

I’m writing a biography about maestra Albina Cabrera. She was awarded “Woman of the Year” of Watsonville this year. Some children call her Abuelita. She’s worked here for a long time. She teaches folkloric dance and sings as well. She really has a beautiful voice.

Maestra Albina was born in Mexico in 1935. She is sixty-seven years old. She came to the United States thirty-seven years ago. She has lived in Watsonville for thirty-seven years. Before she lived in Watsonville she lived in Davenport, eight miles from Santa Cruz. She came to Watsonville to make a better life for herself and her eight children.

She started working at Freedom School four years ago. She told the Freedom school students to call her Abuelita. She wants to be called that because her eighteen grandchildren call her that same name. She likes what she does because she likes working with kids.

Albina Cabrera went to school in Mexico. She started working with kids when she was twelve years old in a church in Mexico. That's how she became a teacher. She started teaching dancing and singing in 1997 at Starlight School. Dancing and singing are really important to her. She also enjoys working in her garden.

This is what some children from Freedom School say about her. One girl’s opinion is that she is really strict. Some girls think that people call her Abuelita because she is really nice and helpful. I think they call her Abuelita because she’s worked here for a long time and lots of kids know her Albina has been teaching folkloric dance and singing classes in the Extended Learning Program at Freedom School for two years. Her students have performed at school assemblies, Alianza School, Ann Soldo School, Watsonville High School, the Mello Center, and the Pajaro Valley District Administrative Offices.

Maestra Albina got the award because she is a great housekeeper, caregiver, and because of her commitment to our community. When they gave her the award she felt happy. She was proud of herself because few women have the chance to be Woman of the Year. The governor of California came to Watsonville and gave her the award.

I think she is a wonderful woman. I was in her dancing class for two years. It was really fun. I learned a lot about dancing. She is a really good teacher. I hope that I get the chance to be her student again some day. I think her life is going to continue to be productive in the future.

The Extended Learning Program

by Eli Stoll

I am writing an article about the Extended Learning Program at Freedom School. The program starts each day after school at 2:30 and ends at 5:30. There are about 200 students in the program. This program has only been going for two years, but has been very successful.

There are currently around 30 to 40 staff members working in the Extended-Learning program. I think its cool that most of the staff are either Freedom teachers, or from UCSC and Cabrillo College. The kids can relate to them easily because they’re still young. We can have conversations with them that we can understand.

There are a lot of enrichment classes in the after school program like: computer classes, journalism, violin, arts and crafts, ceramics, drums, folkloric dance, cooking, singing, soccer, science, and fitness classes

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Kids also have tutorial classes to help them with homework and work on Math and reading. The tutorials are divided into four groups by grade level (groups A, B, C, D). There is a math-center in room 44, and Mr. Marcus teach a writing class in the library.

Liz Gordon Stoll is the Site Coordinator of the program. She worked really hard to get the program up and running. It takes a lot of time to keep things organized and working well. You’re probably wondering if Liz will be the site coordinator of the program next year. Well she is actually going to share the position next year.

The goal of the program is to improve academic achievement. Now you’re probably asking, how do I know that our academic achievement is improving because of the program? One way that we know their improving is because the SAT 9 scores of the kids in the program are higher than the scores of the kids that are not.

I think the Extended Learning Program is a good program because it’s really well organized. It also has a great staff. I’ve now been in the program for 3 years and it is the best program I’ve ever been in, not to mention the only program I’ve ever been in. I think this program is really cool!