Angelina Sáenz Voted 'Person of the Year' by Patch Readers

Last week, Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch invited readers to nominate and vote for locals who have made valuable and lasting contributions to the neighborhood as "Person of the Year." We join in congratulating the winner amongst ten other important nominees: Angelina Saenz, a teacher at Aldama Elementary School. Congratulations!

Saenz is a Spanish-language kindergarten teacher in Aldama's dual immersion program, which is breaking new grounds in education and cultural access for children in the Northeast Los Angeles communities. When we interviewed her for the Reinterpreting Highland Park chapter of our Departures installment, she discussed the founding of the program, its impact on the Highland Park community, and the history of bilingual education in California. See the interview below:

Voters in support of Saenz cited the self confidence, sense of pride, and cultural awareness she instills in her students, in addition to the valuable metacognition skills she teaches through dual language education.

Check out the rest of the nominees on the Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch page, including another community visionary from The People of Highland Park, Nicole Possert.