Humans of MPVA

I was named the principal of MPVA in May of 2017. I could have never imagined how this would all look 7 years later. Beginning with Hurricane Harvey at the start of my first school year here at MPVA, followed by a pandemic, and then everything that has followed since, it has been a challenge. When I reflect on it all though, this experience has also been one of the most meaningful and significant times in my life, and in the lives of my family.

It was early in my second year at MPVA that I received a phone call just before a Faculty Advisory Committee meeting with teachers. It was from Casa de Esperanza, the foster care agency we had adopted our first son, Jakob, from.

It was out of the blue and completely unexpected. They had a 12-year-old boy who needed a home immediately or would be placed in CPS custody. His father, and only parent, was dying and expected to pass away within hours. After a quick conversation, my family knew we had room in our hearts and in our home for another son and for a brother.

When we met Salvador the next day, he was painfully shy, quiet, …. scared. We met in the hospital where his father was. I’ll never forget walking into the small hospital room filled with doctors, nurses, and social workers to meet Salvador and his father, Francisco. It was a very emotional moment meeting someone for the first time and to promise you would love his son like your own from that moment on.

After meeting his father, Salvador and I went to eat lunch together with a Casa social worker in tow to start to get to know each other. I found out that he had been born and raised in Mexico until the age of 10 and had gained his U.S. citizenship when he was 11 years old. Salvador shared that he had absolutely hated school in Mexico and was constantly bullied. He also shared that it did not get better when he arrived in Houston as now, he was also bullied because he only spoke Spanish. He shared stories of getting thrown against walls, bullied, and choked by other students while they called him names. He hated school. Now he was finding out that his new father was a middle school principal. That was not a cool feeling.

As I dug a little deeper, I also found out that Salvador loved to dance and sing. He even had his own YouTube channel where he posted videos of himself dancing, playing a recorder, a guitar, and a little bit of keyboarding. He had started to learn to play the guitar while in Mexico and loved mariachi music. He could recall and sing dozens and dozens of mariachi songs from memory, songs his father had loved and taught him. He also loved art and drawing and sketching. He could not have been more “fine artsy” if he had tried.

Imagine his surprise and disbelief when I told him that the school I was bringing him to, the one where I was the principal, was a performing and visual arts middle school. He literally did not believe me. A school where your classes can include mariachi, guitar, dance, art? All the things he just happened to love? No way. He told me much later on he really thought I was lying to him.

MPVA changed Salvador’s life.

Salvador absolutely blossomed here at MPVA. The quiet, shy, timid boy I met found his voice, his confidence, his tribe. His love for the fine arts was nurtured and grown along with everything else that comes with school. He grew to love this school so much that at the end of his first year here at MPVA, he came into my office on the last day of school and looked out my window at everyone else excitedly heading out for summer. He had tears rolling down his cheeks. I panicked. “What’s wrong!?” I asked. His response – “I don’t want it to end.”

Fast forward a couple of years and as Salvador enters HSPVA as a freshman, my youngest, Jakob, enters MPVA as a theater and dual language student. Jakob was in a K-8 dual language school, and we could have left him there, but I already knew that MPVA was where he needed to be. When he asked why, I shared everything I know to be true of Meyerland.

Our school doesn’t just prepare you to continue to do well in high school and beyond, more importantly (to me) is that it prepares you to be a part of community, a community that resembles the real world in its diversity. It isn’t just the ethnic diversity of our school that I wanted him to be a part of. It was important that Jakob, like Salvador, see that there are some who have more than we do and there are some who have less. We have families from very different backgrounds, cultures, religions, abilities, strengths, and beliefs – and they all matter. I did not want either of my sons to simply be tolerant of the differences we see. I wanted them to appreciate them.

As Jakob nears the end of his time here at MPVA, I see how much he has grown as an individual (and not to mention he is also physically taller than me now). He is kind and has learned how to be friends with just about anyone and to also always be friendly. I love watching him fist bump his way down the hall when we enter school in the morning and saying good morning to many of our bus riders with disabilities, some who are not verbal. He has learned everyone matters and deserves our best.

Jakob is also my athlete and has had the opportunity to play football, baseball, and now basketball. He has learned what it means to be part of a team and how to win and lose with your self-respect still in place. Jakob has matured in small and big ways during his time here at MPVA.

Jakob, like Salvador, found his tribe. This became a place to love and claim as his own.

Fun Fact - Over Thanksgiving he had a close friend who attends Lanier MS come visit. They engaged in a healthy debate over who has the prettiest girls in their school. Meyerland won. Jakob loves this school and everything it has poured into him. Meyerland will always win with him.

When you think of it, our kids spend some of the most formative times of their lives inside our school. During their 6th, 7th, and 8th grade years, they spend 27 out of 36 months here at MPVA. That is 75% of their middle school years – the years when you start to see big developmental changes and see more clearly the person they are going to become. In small and big ways, this school community helps grow, nurture, and shape all the children that go here.

Having the privilege to see it as part of my role here at Meyerland is the best part of this position. To have been able to witness also as a parent and share that experience with them – priceless.

I will never be able to fully express how deeply grateful I am to the faculty here at Meyerland and to my team. They nurtured Salvador and gave him a safe space to land as he adjusted to a new family, a new school … a new life. This school, this community that he found, transformed his life. They have given Jakob newfound confidence and helped nurture a genuine and kind disposition and leadership skills that I know will continue to grow as he moves forward.

MPVA has helped me raise my sons. They both got what each needed to grow, thrive, and spread their wings. I had the rare and distinct honor and privilege of being able to witness their growth and be present for all of it, in and out of school. That is more than I could have ever asked for or dreamed of when I accepted the position here at MPVA. I would be remiss if I did not also share that I too have grown professionally and personally throughout my MPVA journey.

Salvador, Jakob, and I truly love this school and our tribe. #WeAreMPVA