Maria Chavez: A Lesson in Living Life

<figure id="attachment_38405" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-38405" style="width: 200px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/featured/maria-chavez-a-lesson-in-living-l…; rel="attachment wp-att-38405"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-38405 size-medium" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_7166-200x30…; alt="IMG_7166" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_716… 200w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_716… 684w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_716… 1880w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-38405" class="wp-caption-text">Maria Chavez</figcaption></figure>

Maria Chavez was born again 10 years ago, and has since then used her second chance at life to put her knowledge in the service of others. 
Born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, Maria moved with her family to El Centro, California, when she was 11 years old. In El Centro,  she helped her farmworker parents in the fields. Despite doing hard labor, working in the fields did not keep her from going to school, but actually fueled her pursuit of a better life. Thus began what would become her exemplary track record in California education. Her initial boost up came from the California Mini-Corps program, an initiative that supports farm workers and their children who want to become teachers. 
“It’s a moral support, support to help you stay in the university; you cannot put a price on this kind of support,” said Maria of the program. 
The program, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, gave her the opportunity to train as a teacher’s assistant, and them become the head teacher. Although her dream growing up had always been to teach in a classroom, after only six years as a teacher, life opened a new road for her to travel. Her frustration with not seeing changes in some schools led Maria to seek a place at the decision table so she could have a positive impact on as many children’s lives as possible 
“I understood that, to achieve greater change, it was necessary to go beyond the classroom, because there you can impact the lives of 30 students, but once you break out of that shell you can impact many more,” she recalled. 
In the late ‘90s, Chavez came to San Diego, where she found an opportunity at the San Diego County Office of Education as Executive Director of the Migrant Education Program. 
The position allowed her to return to her roots and help other children of immigrants who dream of continuing their education and having better opportunities. Here, Chavez also got to collaborate with California Mini-Corps once more, and even recalled that at one point she had 14,500 students in a single year. Maria Chavez was also one of the first teachers in California to be licensed in Bilingual Cultural Education. 
But at the peak of her career, just after finishing her doctorate and with education projects in the pipeline, her life took an unexpected turn. Ten years ago, doctors found a brain aneurism and gave her little chance of surviving the surgery. The only thing Maria asked her doctor was to wait a few months, because her birthday was coming up and she “did not want to die before getting to 45.” Prior to surgery, she spent a few days at home saying goodbye to her loved ones and putting her affairs in order before what she thought would be her time. 
“I did not think I was coming back,” Chavez confessed; but life gave her a second chance. 
Maria remembers that after waking up, and during months TO COME, she saw things like she was “watching a 3-D movie without the glasses.” The rest of her senses became more keen to such a degree that she heard sounds at painful levels and could perceive smells from quite a distance away. 
Those six months post-op were “like a horror movie,” but they also gave her a chance to reflect on her life. Her love of teaching drove her to attempt going back to work, but fear of a relapse eventually forced her to give up her professional career. 
“I have no regrets, it was a beautiful journey,” she stressed. 
After living in Tijuana for a time, she recently bought a home and returned to San Diego, where she now dedicates herself to providing different kinds of guidance or just being there to give peace to whoever may need it. 
“I listen to the person only if [that person] is willing to change his or her life, and that person in return has to help others, I call it ‘the multiplying effect’,” she said. “This house is like a refuge now, people I don’t even know have come here, people who needed a place to stay.” 
She baptized her haven Misión La Mariposa, for being a place that has given her the peace and energy to get back out there. Maria wants to take full advantage of every day and continue her calling as an educator, even if it’s not in a traditional classroom. Today, she is left with the satisfaction of having helped generations of immigrants, many of whom are still in touch with her and even fulfilled their dream of becoming teachers. 
“Education is such a gorgeous thing, it is truly priceless,” voiced Chavez, who cannot contain her emotions when she remembers her years in the classroom. “My reward is to hear the life stories of those who were my students.”