Distinguished Eagle Passan Maria Barrientos Ramirez named Educator of the Year in Boulder County, CO

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Former Eagle Passan Maria Barrientos Ramirez, age 58, was recently honored as the distinguished Educator of the Year Award recipient at the 26th Annual Boulder County, Colorado Community Action Program Multi-Cultural Awards in Boulder, Colorado due to her dedicated and extraordinary service as an English Language Development (ELD) teacher at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette, Colorado, announced Master of Ceremonies Dorothy Bustamante, Board Chair of Community Action Programs, and Tim Barnes, Board Member Emeritus of Community Action Programs.

Previously to her Educator of the Year Award on October 2nd, Maria Barrientos-Ramirez has been honored as the National Bilingual Teacher of the Year in as well as the Colorado Bilingual Teacher of the Year awards in 1996 and 1995, respectively.

It is no surprise to Boulder County Commissioners Court and the Boulder County public independent school district that Barrientos-Ramirez was named the coveted 2014 Educator of the Year Award recipient by the Boulder County Community Action Programs due to her unselfish and passionate education and leadership towards English Language Development (ELD) students at Angevine who have just arrived to the United States with no English and to those with significant works to provide students with the tools, skills, and encouragement they need to be proud of their cultural heritage and learn to become successful students.

Barrientos-Ramirez is a nationally acclaimed award-winning educator, teacher, poet, and activist. being named the 2014 Boulder County, Colorado Community Action Award on October 2nd.

Barrientos-Ramirez knows her students very well because she hails from Eagle Pass, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, and grew up living and studying with similar disadvantaged limited English language proficiency students as a young child, student, and subsequent seasonal migrant farm worker with her family. She is the ideal candidate to teach the ELD students in Boulder County, Colorado. She is recognized and known for her passionate commitment and unselfishness to teach these ELD students the necessary language and cultural heritage skills to succeed in the Boulder County public eduation system with high efficiency and effectiveness.

During her career at the Boulder County public education system, Barrientos-Ramirez developing monthly ELD parent meetings to be heard and advocate of these students, built bridges to other parent organizations and strengthening relationships among the families at Angevine. She has also co-founded Club Mestizo, an afterschool program meeting once a week and offering classes for students with Su Teatro, a professional theater group in Denver. Her students learn and gain transformative life experiences through arts training, increased self-esteem, learning to work co-operatively and the opportunity to perform at Angevine and Denver.

Barrientos-Ramirez is an avid and accomplished poet, thus founding the Poetry Club at Angevine, which helps students gain language skills and learn how to express themselves. She uses her own former migrant-student voice to help overcome barriers and inequities and helps students to find their own voice on the way to a better future and public education.

The Eagle Pass Business Journal congratulates former Eagle Passan Maria Barrientos-Ramirez on her coveted award as the 2014 Boulder County, Colorado Community Action Programs and wishes her continued success in all of her future endeavors and dreams. Congratulations for an awesome job well-done Maria.