Hispanic leaders to be honored at banquet
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At the age of 13, Estella Vazquez came to the U.S. from Mexico speaking only Spanish. She struggled to grasp English at Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in East Los Angeles and hasn’t forgotten what that was like. “The worst feeling is not being able to communicate,” Vazquez said. “I felt a desperate need to communicate.” Now fluent in English and Spanish, she helps others struggling to adjust to life in America. Vazquez has played a key role in recruiting students to Cuesta College’s English as a Second Language program. She will be honored on March 10 with other Hispanic leaders on the Central Coast at Latino Today newspaper’s Most Influential Latinos Awards Banquet. |
Since Vazquez started at Cuesta in 2000, she has spoken to hundreds of people about ESL at local churches, soccer fields, laundromats, and restaurants — places where many immigrants spend their time, she said. This semester, the program has about 650 students, and it has more than doubled since Vazquez started, said Douglas Pillsbury, Cuesta’s ESL program director. ESL classrooms are now in San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande and Nipomo. “Estella is the perfect person for the job,” said Jesse Chavarria, Latino Today’s editor and publisher. “She’s nice, always smiling, and makes you feel comfortable. … Hats off to Cuesta for hiring her.” Vazquez — a married mother with three daughters ages 10, 15 and 20 — had a humble upbringing.
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