Originally from Guatemala City, Alba Vasquez has found a home here in D.C. Her children, nieces, nephews, and now granddaughter have all attended D.C. Public Schools. Now in her 25th year as a kindergarten educational aide at Hyde-Addison, she is a fixture in her school’s community. Ms. Vasquez describes the “family environment” that teachers, children, and parents work to create, and appreciates seeing her former students come back to visit as high school or college students, and even as parents. Ms. Vasquez explains, “I love to teach and I’ve always loved children. No matter how my day is going, they have a way of making it better.”

In addition to serving as a coordinator for the afterschool program, Ms. Vasquez volunteers her free time to organize and plan events like Hyde Addison’s International Dinner and Screen on the Schoolyard. She is known to spend her weekends crafting resources for use in the classroom; last year, she sewed 48 red capes, one for each kindergartener, so they could celebrate becoming superhero readers. The relationships that Ms. Vasquez forms with her young students are what make her such a valued member of the faculty at Hyde-Addison. According to her former principal, Ms. Vasquez “can coax the shyest, most apprehensive kindergartener to play with new friends. She has a way of welcoming a crying newcomer who knows no English and transforming those tears into a smile.” Ms. Vasquez is proud to make a difference for her students at such an early age, because “at their age, everything is new and exciting. Every little accomplishment is huge in their eyes,” she continues, “and I’m a part of that.”