The Natomas Unified Board of Trustees recognized National Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring Sonia Mercado and Elena Quintero, two Hispanic women who have made major contributions to the school district and to the Natomas community as leaders, activists and volunteers. The following is how they were introduced by Jim Sanders, NUSD Director of Communications, at the Sept. 9 Board meeting.
President Dosick, Trustees, Supt. Chris Evans and Guests:
We ask the Board tonight to recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual event honored throughout the country but one that has special significance in Natomas because about one of every three students in our District is Hispanic.
We’re celebrating the history, culture and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Mexico, Central and South America, Spain and the Caribbean.
National Hispanic Heritage Month is a little unusual in that it covers a 30-day period but not the entire month of September. It extends from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
To honor National Hispanic Heritage Month, we want to recognize two Hispanic women who have done a whole lot for Natomas Unified and for the Natomas community in general, Elena Quintero and Sonia Mercado. They exemplify our District’s Core Belief that, “Our diversity is a strength.”
Sonia has two children in Natomas schools, including an International Baccalaureate scholar at Inderkum High. She works for the Department of Corrections but has found time to volunteer for so many good causes that it’s clear she’s found a way to stuff 48 hours of work into a 24-hour day. In the past few years alone, Sonia has been coordinator of Inderkum’s Safe and Sober Grad Night, president of the Inderkum PTSA, founder of the Cesar Chavez Celebration of the Arts, founder of the Health and Beauty Expo at Inderkum, a member of the Duck Pluck Core Committee, she was active in the Measure J school bond campaign, and about once a month, she helps feed the homeless at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento with her kids and some Inderkum students. She was a team coordinator in last year’s Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research. That’s just a sampling. I could go on and on. I asked Sonia about volunteering, and she told me, “It brings me closer to my kids, because they get involved and they enjoy it, too. It’s just a way of giving back to the community – and that’s what it’s all about.”
Now let me tell you about Elena, then we can present both with a token of appreciation.
Elena is the mother of a student who graduated from Inderkum High in 2013 and now her youngest child is just entering Natomas Unified, she’s a transitional kindergarten student at H. Allen Hight Elementary. Elena was a member of the North Natomas Little League’s founding board and was a baseball coach and all-star manager. As part of the Creekside Neighborhood Association, she helped improve safety by advocating for speed bumps and stop signs. Shes a member of the District Parent Advisory Council. She has served as PTO President at Natomas Middle School and as PTSA president at Inderkum. She helped start Safe and Sober Grad Night at Inderkum years ago. Recently, she helped start a second “walking bus” at H. Allen Hight and she’s working with Principal Stephanie Carlstrom to persuade more parents to volunteer at the school. Elena is an aide to Mayor Pro Tem Angelique Ashby and in that role she has created numerous volunteer programs for youth, for example, last year she led a project in which Witter Ranch Elementary School Students learned about and helped clean a local park. In closing, Elena wants you to know this about her because there’s a moral in it for all of us: She once worked for big IT firms, Cisco and NEC Electronics, but 6 ½ years ago she found herself both jobless and homeless. The contacts she made volunteering in Natomas helped her land a job and get back on her feet. The message is that what goes around, comes around. Doing a good deed can benefit you in ways you may never expect. “I’m a true believer in, ‘if you’re going to complain about something, you ought to be part of the solution, not the problem.’ And we as adults need to lead by example,” she told me.
President Dosick and Board, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month than to recognize Sonia Mercado and Elena Quintero for all they’ve done for this district and for this community. Thank you.
PHOTOS BELOW ARE SONIA MERCADO, LEFT, AND ELENA QUINTERO, RIGHT
