Welcome to an episode brimming with wisdom, resilience, and a generous dash of cultural richness. Ever met someone who turned a disparaging comment into a beacon of motivation? Meet Bertha Benavides, the dynamic principal of Willard Intermediate School, who turned a dismissive sentiment from a counselor into a propelling force for her educational journey. From Mexico to the U.S., her story unfolds in a saga of relentless determination and an unwavering commitment to empowering students through education.
Bertha's leadership is as inspirational as it is heartwarming. Imagine entering a school where the principal's love for cooking spills over into her approach to education. Where making mole is not just a culinary expedition but a metaphor for a leadership journey that intertwines patience, process, and endearing love. Bertha's recipe for success involves a careful blend of restorative practices and emotional nurturing, creating an environment that fosters both academic and cultural growth. She believes that resilience isn't just about bouncing back; it's about rising together.
Diversity, for Bertha, is not a buzzword but a lived experience. On this episode, Bertha peels back the layers of her work with the Ethnic Studies Steering Committee, fostering a culture where every student’s ethnicity is not just recognized but celebrated. She willingly acknowledges the powerful female mentors who've shaped her journey, turning their teachings into tangible actions within her school community. This episode is more than a conversation; it's an invitation to a world where compassionate leadership can transform lives and empower students. So, ready to be inspired by Bertha's journey? We promise, it's a journey worth joining.
Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership
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Episode Transcript
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Bianca Barquin (00:07):
Welcome Amplifiers to another inspiring
episode of SAUSD's AmplifyingLeadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and joining us today is a leader
whose approach to schooladministration is imbued with
care, passion and unyieldingdedication to nurturing not just
the academic but also theemotional and cultural wealth of
(00:29):
every student under her wing.
Bertha Benavides, principal ofWillard Intermediate School,
leads with a wealth of heart,generosity and a dash of
culinary finesse.
She has created the conditionswhere every child feels seen,
heard and inherently valuable.
Bertha, it's an absolute joy tohave you with us today.
Bertha Benavides (00:51):
Oh my god thank you so much.
I want to really, really thankyou for thinking of me and being
part of this amazing movementyou're starting and having the
community hear about us leadersin Santa Ana and people in
general in Santa Ana, so I trulyappreciate you having me here.
Bianca Barquin (01:08):
Bertha, your journey in education is steeped
in compassion and action.
Can you share with ourlisteners what kindled your
passion for education andultimately propelled you into
administrative leadership withthe Santa Ana Unified School
District?
Bertha Benavides (01:25):
Well, I was born in Mexico-- Tijuana, Baja
California and I was brought tothe States when I was three
years old, lived in a garage inInglewood with my mom, my dad
and my little brother, and weended up coming to San Juan
Capistrano, and there I rememberin a little community that was
full of Latinos in that area andduring summer I would have all
(01:49):
the kids come to my house and onthe wall of the dining table I
would put like a piece of paperand teach all the kids the ABCs.
I was just like this is fun.
So I continued my education andin high school I was told by a
counselor that I wasn't going todo anything but flip burgers at
(02:10):
McDonald's.
But I have an older sister thatactually proceeded to go to
college--honor student, I wasnot an honor student, she was.
She went on to communitycollege.
I went on to community collegeand I found a community of
people there-- counselors,people from the ELB to help me,
think a little bit more of who Iam as a human.
(02:32):
First, because I didn't believethat I was going to be anybody,
because I was just told that Iwasn't going to be anybody.
My sister ended up going tocollege.
She went to UCLA.
So I go, "I guess I have tofollow her.
So I went and I had the besttime of my life.
Then I realized I wanted tomake a change with people that
looked like me, and that momentwhere that woman told me, that
(02:55):
counselor told me that I wasn'tgoing to be anybody, really was
a major trigger.
But I converted it into apositive for me to empower me to
continue on.
So that's what led me to be aneducator.
Once I was in an educationalfield as a teacher, I realized I
loved what the administratorswere doing, the community
(03:17):
liaisons, and so I became anoutreach consultant.
And when I became an outreachconsultant at the fourth year
that I was in teaching, I'm like, oh my God, this is me, this is
what I want to do working incommunities, helping people get
resources and what they need andsupport and develop an SST
process a cost process and itwas just so powerful.
(03:39):
Then I was sent into high school, then into the alternative
education system.
When I got into the alternativeeducation system I said, oh my
God, this is where my heartbelongs.
All these students, all mybabies, all these students need
a person that looks like them tobe able to believe in them.
(04:02):
And that's when I realized Ihave to blend what I learned as
an outreach consultant and as aneducator leader inside the
continuation school system andbecome somebody more so to help
our student and communitiesbelieve in themselves.
And that's what I felt I neededto be a leader, because I
(04:23):
needed for kids to see thatthere was people like me, like
them, like us, making adifference and making education
a place of safety, a place oflove where you can go and feel
like you're at home, with thatabuelita, with a tia, with a mom
, with the same kind ofstructure and discipline that
(04:44):
they have at home, and if Iwanted to mirror that in an
institution like a school.
Bianca Barquin (04:50):
Bertha, thank you for sharing that and thank
you for being vulnerable.
I think it's really importantfor all of us to remember that
words matter and what we sayactually matters, and it's
disheartening to me to hear whatthat counselor said to you, but
it also makes me reflect, as aneducator and as an educational
(05:11):
leader, that we should all bevery cognizant of everything
that we say to students each andevery day, and we all have to
have that fundamental belief inthem.
So, Bertha, from baking treatsto developing a nurturing
environment at WillardIntermediate, how does your
intrinsic spirit of generosityand caring shape the experiences
(05:34):
of your students and staff?
Bertha Benavides (05:36):
Well, I just said a little bit about that is
I wanted to bring home to school.
I wanted there not to be anykind of barriers where the kids
and as well as teachers didn'twant to come to an institution
of education.
I wanted them to come to home.
So we started the motto of theWillard familia, and so the
Willard familia is what it isand I tell kids and I tell the
(05:58):
teachers that in families wehave the black sheep, but we
have the one that succeeds andhere we're all going to be
successful.
I go, but sometimes we falltogether and we're going to get
up together, and so I try sohard to give the educators at
Willard an opportunity to feelloved and cared for.
(06:21):
So I will make treats for them,as you said.
I love baking and I show, and alot of Latinos show their love
through cooking, and I willbring, and before Thanksgiving,
I will make 50 little muffinsand pass them out to all the
teachers.
For Christmas I will make thembracelets and little towels for
(06:42):
their hair and just littlethings that they're similar to
when you go home right and youhave a birthday party and they
give you little gifts and theymake you feel loved and for our
students we'll dance together,we'll be like having a great
time and in our announcements weuse Spanish and English and if
we have any students that areVietnamese, I will empower the
(07:03):
students to say good morning atVietnamese over the loudspeaker,
because I want them to feelconnected to the culture and the
beauty of who they are.
And yeah, I know that at timesour family unit or what's going
on at home may not be the bestor may not be perfect, but you
know what it's perfect for ourkids and if we can come to
(07:24):
school and feel that we areloved and cared for, then I
think we're doing a good jobdoing that at Willard.
Bianca Barquin (07:34):
Thank you, Bertha.
Your pivotal role in the EthnicStudies Steering Committee has
seen you work tirelessly tosupport students in meeting this
graduation requirement.
Can you share how thisinitiative is personal to you
and your plan for Ethnic Studiesat Willard Intermediate?
Bertha Benavides (07:51):
I love that question because it goes back to
what I told you earlier (07:53):
how a counselor did not believe in me.
And I truly believe that In myheart it probably wasn't her
fault that she didn't believe inme, that she wasn't aware of
the community change that'shappening in that community
where I went to school at.
She didn't understand how itwas to embrace people of color,
(08:15):
students of immigrant status orpeople that were vulnerable or
had low socioeconomic status.
So I go back to that incidentof negativity and turn it into a
positive, to give our studentsthe opportunity to see the
beauty in themselves and thatit's not a big deal if we might
not have money and live in a bigmansion or we might not fit
(08:38):
into society.
I feel that when I talk aboutEthnic Studies with our students
and I bring it in, I want mystudents to understand how their
culture, their identity, isimportant and educate them to
understand that when we learnabout ourselves or others like
(09:02):
our Native American brothers andsisters, or African American
brothers and sisters, our Jewishbrothers and sisters, our
students that are identifying inthe LGBTQ plus community, we
need to empower our students toknow each other but, most
importantly, know themselves.
And if I, as a leader, can bringin curriculum that empowers
(09:25):
them, they can be allowed tofeel vulnerable to who they are
in their stories, I think thatit is the biggest change for
them.
So they won't have thecounselor that I had oppressing
me, because they're going tounderstand how to stop that
oppression, because they'regoing to be superheroes within
(09:46):
their own skin.
They will be able to empowerthemselves and say I can
advocate for me and I canadvocate for my brother and my
sister.
That people don't trulyunderstand what our struggle is
and our beliefs are.
Bianca Barquin (10:01):
I love that.
Superheroes within our own skin.
I'm going to think about that.
I love that, and I think ourstudents will be better for it
too.
So, Bertha, you're also known,and I know that we've had this
conversation before, but I wantour listeners to hear as well,
you're known for being a staunchadvocate for restorative
(10:21):
practices.
How have these practicestransformed the social and
emotional landscape of yourschool, and can you share an
instance where this approachprofoundly impacted a student or
a situation?
Bertha Benavides (10:35):
I am a big believer of restorative practice
and I think it comes back tothe same traumas and triggers
that I have internalized and Iwant my kids not to have
internalized.
And these issues on hate, thecyber-bullying, the negative
comments and the fights and thedegrading and the use of
(10:57):
negative words are so hurtfuland kids don't understand that.
And restorative practices givesyou an opportunity to have a
conversation that's authenticwith two individuals, three
individuals, four individuals,and break it down and think
about and talk about what isthat word or action that you
(11:22):
caused that pain toward anotherperson.
And my job is to touch uponthat hurt, put a little sprinkle
of love and connection andbelief into the power of being
okay with feeling and being okaywith the person that's causing
the hurt, to understand that youare the one that caused the
(11:45):
hurt, but it doesn't make you abad person.
It makes you a bad person whenyou're not aware that that's
happening.
But the beauty of restorativepractices is when you make that
child's light of power and lovecome to life and say, yes, I
hurt you, but I want toapologize and I didn't know that
(12:07):
my words hurt you that much.
Just recently I had a situationwhere one of my students at the
beginning of the year, outsideof school, they got in an
altercation with another childand these two young men that
attacked the other student hadjust witnessed, two days prior,
police officers beating up onhis friend.
(12:28):
And I 100% believe that thereason these two young men
reacted the way they reacted wasbecause of what the actions
they learned through an incidentthat happened in their own
personal life in society.
Now, when we sat down and wehad a conversation with the
(12:48):
child that was attacked and thetwo children that attacked them,
it was so powerful when Iactually turned around and
looked at the young man andlooked at his face and I said
mijo, you know that it hurt youwhen you saw your friend being
attacked.
Tell me, did it hurt you?
(13:08):
And at that moment that childbroke down, started crying and
he's a kid that never cries andhe was literally crying and he
couldn't hold his tears and Isaid it's okay.
At that moment we had ourrestorative partners, an AP and
myself in the room and we allstarted crying with him and we
(13:29):
said it's okay, because we canhurt together, but we're gonna
heal together.
I go, but what you did is whatyou saw your friend go through.
How does that make you feel?
So at that moment, when I saidthat to this child, he instantly
started crying again.
I go, did it hurt to see yourfriend beat up?
(13:51):
He said, yes, but you did thesame thing to your peer that you
went to school with and heturned around and, literally at
that moment, apologized to himwithout me even asking him to
say sorry.
And that is the strength of therestorative practice.
It's the strength of believingand touching into that pain,
(14:12):
that internalized pain that ourstudents have, and we, little by
little, sprinkle the love thatwe one has to help our students
become vulnerable to feel andcome out with that pain.
Because once you see that childcry or the child get angry, you
see their hands in the fist andthen you see them relaxed, you
(14:33):
know as an adult, you know as afacilitator, you've done your
job.
You touch that part of theirheart that is going to restore
the pain that they haveinternalized through whatever
they have gone through in theirpast.
Bianca Barquin (14:48):
Thank you, Bertha.
It's exactly what you saidbefore-- healing together, and I
think by doing this we allbecome more reflective, right?
And we're teaching children tobe reflective about their own
behaviors and to really deeplythink about things and to think
about others.
Okay, now I want to switchgears a little bit.
Your culinary prowess hasnotably made waves, even being
(15:11):
featured with Jerry on thepremiere episode of Leading with
Flavor.
So my question for you is howdoes your love for cooking and
baking intertwine with yourleadership style, and what, in
your view, is the secretingredient to creating a
wholesome learning environment?
Bertha Benavides (15:28):
It was so much fun being invited by Mr.
Almendarez is to be in his show.
I made enmoladas, made the molefrom scratch.
And it's interesting you saidthat because a lot of that was,
most of the topic was oh, how isthis connected to your
leadership?
And the mole has 23 ingredientsplus some, and the process is
(15:49):
hours and hours to make itperfect.
My leadership is me leadingwith so much of my heart.
And not only that, but I lookedat it like there's 23
ingredients where there'shundreds of kids that I have to
deal with, right, and each childhas to be dealt with
individually and I have to seeeach child with their individual
(16:11):
story.
So when I cook, I cook withindividual ingredients and make
them shine inside the actualrecipe.
And when I lead, I lead knowingthat this student needs this
from me and this student needsthis from me.
So now how can I become achameleon and just become part
(16:34):
of that world of every singlechild, and not only the children
, but the teachers?
What do teachers need from meso I could be connected to them?
What am I gonna do that isgoing to spice up that mole, to
connect with that teacher?
What am I gonna do to give thatextra sweetness to the mole
(16:59):
that is going to make adifference to that child that is
hungry?
That is sad, that is frustrated?
What am I gonna do to blend allthis together to make the
perfect culture, the perfectidentity within a school to feel
safe?
So when you eat something, I putmy Mexican sazón right,
(17:22):
seasoning, and I go bam bam,like you know, used to do, bam
bam, and I do my, amor amor, andI feel that when I cook, I love
, and so when I lead, I love.
So they go hand in hand.
Because as much as I lovespending the time cooking and
(17:42):
baking and it's my therapy timefor me, leading and looking at
kids' eyes and when I dorestorative practice with the
kids, when I have conversationswith teachers, I wanna do it
with love and compassion andconnectedness because when you
do that it becomes a beautifulcultural love inside the school.
(18:03):
But when you do that when youcook, it just gives it that
blessing so the flavors can comeout really, really good.
It's very interesting when I wasmaking the mole and I was in
the process of putting thechicken into the broth and we
were gonna salt it, I toldJerry, look it, when you salt
something, my mom always told meto put the salt, that make the
(18:26):
sign of the cross and because itblesses the food and it makes
it taste a lot better.
You know, I noticed thecafeteria manager.
She was supposed to stay there.
She turned around from doingwhat she was doing and looked at
me and went two thumbs up.
She then calls me last week andtells me you know, I didn't
(18:51):
realize that people actually didthat, because I have taught
that to my children and Iconnected with you at that
moment because I knew that youwere truly doing this with
passion and love.
And when I go home I ask myancestors, my mom's mom, my dad,
my parents, to bless me, tocontinue doing what I do every
(19:16):
day, which is love and connect,because one word that comes out
of my mouth could hurt a child,but one word that comes out of
my mouth could make a difference, and that's what I wanna do
every day as a leader, andthat's what I wanna do when
(19:39):
people eat my food, feel thelove that I have for them and
feel the love that I put intothe food that I have and the
work that I do on a daily basis.
Bianca Barquin (19:51):
Bertha, thank you for your vulnerability.
I have had the honor and thepleasure of working with you,
and love, passion, care,connectedness is exemplified in
every single thing that you do,and I've also had the pleasure
of eating your food, and it'sexemplified there as well.
So thank you.
Next question, Bertha (20:11):
what would you say is distinctively
unique and special about WillardIntermediate, and how does your
approach to leadershipaccentuate and celebrate these
characteristics?
Bertha Benavides (20:25):
You know, Willard is very, very special.
We see kids with trauma, we seekids that hurt, but, most
importantly, we see and we havechildren that love, that love
with their heart, that love withtheir soul, and they care.
Our community cares.
(20:46):
They truly do care.
I have amazing, phenomenaleducators that are willing to
make a change in kids' lives inthose classrooms.
The teachers wake up in themorning and wanna be at Willard.
They make a difference on adaily basis.
Yesterday we had conferencesand teachers were together as a
(21:07):
team working in efforts to makesure our kids are successful.
But people focus on the negativeinstead of the positive and we
need to stop.
We need to stop and think of theamazingness that's happening in
the schools, the opportunitiesthat our kids are getting to
make a change in their ownpersonal lives, the fact that
(21:30):
we're having open endingconversations with kids, we're
having restorative practicesdone by counselors, by teachers,
by administrators that is huge.
The fact that we have all oureighth grade ELA doing eighth
grade ethnic studies ELA ispowerful.
We are giving our students thepower of orgullo, of being proud
(21:55):
of who they are, and when wegive that to students, they in
turn become empowered and inturn behave and, in turn, feel
loved and in turn, make sure ourcommunity feels that they are
worthy of being at that school.
And the message that Iconstantly give our students
(22:16):
through assemblies, throughmorning announcements, is that
we matter and what happensinside the school is important,
but what happens outside, in ourcommunity, it's also important
and it's an image of who we areas a community, as the Willard
Familia, but it's also an imageof who we are as the community
around Willard, and so when kidshave fights outside of school
(22:39):
or they do things during theweekend, it matters to us
because it's part of our family.
I take it very personally, theteam takes it very personally
and we try to solve problems assoon as they are in front of us,
because when we wait it justgets worse.
We do not wanna put a bandaidon hurt, we wanna solve the hurt
(23:01):
.
Bianca Barquin (23:02):
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
There is a beautiful sense offamilia and community over at
Willard.
Your teachers are amazing andyour staff, they work tirelessly
alongside you to meet everychild's needs.
So kudos to all of you fordoing that great work, thank you
.
Now can you walk us through thecore values that steer your
(23:24):
leadership and how these valuesnavigate the decisions,
initiatives and approaches youundertake at Willard?
Bertha Benavides (23:31):
The values that are embraced in my heart
are definitely love andconnectedness and empowering and
I think when kids feel, like Isaid before, when kids, children
, students, humans feel lovedand connected, they feel worthy.
And when a student or a humanfeels worthy, they perform,
right?
And this year we've seen a lotof the behaviors going down in
(23:55):
the classrooms and I trulybelieve it's because our
teachers are doing amazing,amazing lessons in the
classrooms that make ourstudents become authentically
engaged, that they feel worthyof who they are, because, hey,
you know what?
I'm getting a good educationand, yes, I might be reading at
a third grade level, yes, Imight be reading the second
(24:17):
grade level, but my teachercares.
She cares because she makes mefeel worthy and that means that
we will continue to besuccessful.
They will continue bringing insafety into the school and my
values of that are very mirrorto what the kids are doing and
(24:37):
what the staff is doing oncampus.
Bianca Barquin (24:41):
I love it.
You, your staff, you all leadwith heart and you make every
student's individual storymatter, and I so appreciate that
.
So, Bertha, your generosityextends to staff, families and
colleagues, creating a robustcommunity, and you've talked
about this a little bit already.
(25:02):
Tell us a little more.
How do you cultivate andsustain this community spirit
and how has thisinterconnectedness been pivotal,
especially in challenging times?
Bertha Benavides (25:13):
You know, I'm glad you said the last part,
challenging times.
It's not all perfect and, yeah,even though we want the Willard
Familia and the culture in ourcommunity to be positive and
inviting, there's still thoseups and downs and we have to
admit it, we're not all perfect.
I'm not all perfect, the staffis not all perfect.
(25:34):
But we can try and I think thatthere's times where, like
example of last year, toward theend of the year our eighth
grade class was strugglingemotionally, a lot of
social-emotional issues with ourstudents and our community of
teachers were very upset at theadmin that we weren't doing
enough, to the point wheresomebody said I know you want to
(25:56):
do it the long way, but we wantdiscipline now and that was,
that's not who I am.
I have to give students theopportunity to grow.
I have to give students theopportunity for change and I
think that this year we'vetalked so much about our way of
(26:18):
performing in front of theclassrooms, the way we talk to
our students, the way weinteract with our students, that
our students are knowing andnow believing that it's
authentic.
We're not just doing it becausethat's what the principal said
or that's what the assistantprincipal said or that's what we
all agreed to.
(26:38):
Now it's really authentic and Ican feel the culture changing.
Yet, even though it's not beenperfect, it's getting better and
it hopefully will get better,right?
But it doesn't mean that we'renot gonna fall.
But if we fall, as any Personof Color and any person in the
(26:59):
world, we're all resilient and Ithink as a team, as a group of
teachers, as a group of studentsand a group of community
members, we are buildingresiliency in our students to
get up and move forward and ifwe fall, we fall together and we
(27:19):
all will get up together.
For example, the lastaltercation I had was two weeks
ago and I said I had an assembly, 10- minute assembly, saying
this is going to stop and we'reall our family here.
So what are we going to do?
During lunch, sixth graderswill sit with sixth grade,
seventh with seventh grade,eight h with eighth grade,
(27:41):
because we're going to take itas a team.
Not one child fought it.
They all sat where they weresupposed to sit.
It was beautiful because theyknew that we had this together.
One person, two people messedup, we all messed up, and so
it's the cultivating, thatorgullo and the connectedness
(28:01):
that we have within ourcommunity of teachers, community
members and students.
Bianca Barquin (28:06):
Brilliant.
Okay, Bertha, so as you gazeinto the future, what
aspirations do you harbor forWillard Intermediate and how do
you envision its growth andevolution in the coming years?
Bertha Benavides (28:19):
We've done a lot of work with the group of
teachers on the Graduate Profileand the Board priorities and I
think that that's our ultimatefocus is to have our teachers
understand that our students arerequired, and not only
required, we should embrace theGraduate Profile because that is
what SAUSD wants our kids toleave when they're 12th graders
(28:43):
and they go to college.
We want them to beliteracy-focused, numeracy-
focused.
We want them to be goodcommunicators.
We want them to be thoseamazing individuals that are
going to make themselves lookamazing but yet also make SAUSD
amazing.
So I think the focus of Willardis to continue the path of
(29:07):
change and believing andempowering and not only just
empowering kids, empoweringteachers themselves to become
the best of them, because ifthey're not the best of who they
are, they can't be the best forthe children they are teaching.
So empowering teachers and thelove they have and maybe the
(29:29):
biases that come with into theirclassrooms, and really focusing
on who they are.
I think it's incredible.
We just had a pullout day forall the teachers, but it was
scattered through departmentsand I was telling the team the
Dashboard coach and the FutureReady coach that I wanted the PD
(29:52):
to be a time for reflection.
I didn't want it to be a PDwhere we're just going to vomit
strategies and information tothem.
I said it's time for them justto have a reflective moment for
themselves.
And within the training I saidlet's do a poem.
We're in a Turnaround ArtsSchool and a couple of people
(30:15):
went to a retreat and they hadmentioned a while back one of
the activities, and so I saidwhy don't we do a similar
activity where we're looking atan image and they had to do a
poem with that image?
So I said I'm going to go hereand I'm not going to lie the
Future Ready coach was a littlehesitant because I said I want
(30:37):
you to print out two pictures ofthe same Latino kid, two of an
African American child, two of aNative American child, two of
an Asian child, Pacific Islanderchild and a community member
from the LGBTQ plus community,and then you're going to put
them in a folder and you'regoing to pair two, you're going
(30:58):
to give those two images to twoteachers and you're going to
have them write five words thatthey know when they see that
picture, what are the five wordsthat come out of looking at
that image and five phrases andwith those five words and five
phrases they got a constructionpaper, they glued the picture of
the image of the individualchild and then they organized
(31:20):
their poem.
Then they had to share it witheach other.
I wanted the teachers to look atthe lens they're looking at
this human from and realize thatthe other partner may have seen
that image in a completelydifferent way.
But that doesn't mean it's bad.
They're both correct.
(31:41):
But how we communicate aboutthat is what we make and empower
.
So that is the movement we wantfor Willard to have our
teachers feel loved andconnected and understand that
the community of students thatwe work with it's just not one
type of student, it's manystudents.
And yet, even though Santa Anais predominantly Latino, it
(32:06):
doesn't mean that our kids thatare Latinos, are not Jewish, are
not also partly AfricanAmerican or partly Native
American or partly white.
So the ethnicity component inconversation needs to continue
happening, because that iswhat's going to develop open
minds and awareness into thecommunity of teachers and
(32:28):
students.
Bianca Barquin (32:29):
What a great reflective exercise.
Not only did you help them lookinwardly and to really think
about diversity, but then youactually had them share, so then
they could hear each other'sperspectives.
I think that's a fantasticexercise for your teachers, and
hopefully they were reallyexcited about it and were able
to open up their own minds in away by hearing from one another,
(32:52):
so I think it's fabulous.
The last question I have foryou: what's a personal story or
perhaps a little-known fact thatyou'd like to share with our
listeners today to know thewoman behind all of these
remarkable deeds?
Bertha Benavides (33:06):
That I'm a person with a lot of emotions
and a lot of what happened in,my when I was in elementary, in
my youth, it wasn't perfect, itwasn't the best, but I converted
the worst to become the best.
That's my superpower.
To be able to, when I getoppressed or when I am oppressed
(33:27):
, I turn that oppression to apowerful experience in that I
convert into I am going to dowhat you just told me I can't
do, and I think that that helpsme become really strong and
resilient and keep believing inmyself and, like I mentioned
(33:48):
before, in stopping thatimposter syndrome that I
constantly have, because I feelthat, as an immigrant, Mexicana,
chicana, I shouldn't be aleader, I shouldn't be in
education, I should be flippingburgers, like my counselor told
me.
But I'm not.
I'm here to empower, to make adifference and to love with my
(34:15):
heart.
Bianca Barquin (34:17):
And you are doing all of those things.
Bertha, before we sign off,it's time for our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
So if you could amplify themessage or lesson of one
educator or leader who's made animpact in your journey, who
would it be and what is thatresonating message?
Bertha Benavides (34:39):
I have to say that it was my counselor at the
community college.
Her name is Mariana de Saracho.
She believed in me.
She believed in who I was andwho I am now.
But I also want to thank mysister, Corina.
She's the professor at DomiguezHills.
(35:01):
She also empowered me to believewho I was and who I am, and
they told me never allow anybodyto put you down, because you're
stronger than that foot that'soppressing you, and I strongly
believe that, thanks to them, Iam who I am, as well as one of
(35:24):
my mentors that I met during myeducation career, which is my
true friend, Mary Thamen.
She's an amazing woman.
She was an outreach consultantwhen I was and she, I would
always struggled with readingand writing.
Being a second language learner,I wasn't good enough and she
(35:44):
was like, she saved me tobelieve that I could, that I am
worthy, and she's retired and Ilove her to death.
And I go visit her in Oregonall the time and she tells me
you have taught me so much.
But I really think that she hastaught me.
So we've taught each other.
So we've gone through thisjourney of growth together and I
(36:07):
take everything that Mariana,my sister, Mary Thamen, has
given me and I put it in alittle bottle and every time I
feel that I can't, it's likethat, the Little Train That
Can't, I said I open it up and Iget empowered by those three
women that have told me I couldand, of course, my mother,
having always believing in who Iam and believing in my loudness
(36:30):
, my charismatic energy and justthe laughter that I bring into
the world in my family.
So that is who I am and that'swhat I love to be.
Bianca Barquin (36:44):
Thank you, Bertha, such powerful
acknowledgments.
Our dive into Bertha's worldhas not only showcased the
tangible impact of compassionateleadership, but also has
reflected the essence ofcreating an environment where
every child and every educatoris seen, acknowledged and valued
.
Her tales of culinary joy,strategic advocacy and ethnic
(37:08):
studies and the adeptapplication of restorative
practices within the educationalspace echo the profound truth
that leadership is, at its core,about service, care and
fostering a sense of belonging.
Bertha, your journey and theinitiatives at Willard
Intermediate are like thecherished recipes you share,
(37:28):
filled with love, thoughtfullycrafted and intentionally
designed to bring warmth andtogetherness.
You've shown us that the keyingredient to successful
leadership and an engaged schoolcommunity is, without a doubt,
love.
Love that is expressed throughactions, decisions and every
batch of treats that you sharein the spirit of community.
(37:50):
Until next time, stay inspired,stay compassionate and continue
amplifying the positive echoeswithin and around you.
Welcome Amplifiers to another inspiring
episode of SAUSD's AmplifyingLeadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and joining us today is a leader
whose approach to schooladministration is imbued with
care, passion and unyieldingdedication to nurturing not just
the academic but also theemotional and cultural wealth of
(00:29):
every student under her wing.
Bertha Benavides, principal ofWillard Intermediate School,
leads with a wealth of heart,generosity and a dash of
culinary finesse.
She has created the conditionswhere every child feels seen,
heard and inherently valuable.
Bertha, it's an absolute joy tohave you with us today.
Bertha Benavides (00:51):
Oh my god thank you so much.
I want to really, really thankyou for thinking of me and being
part of this amazing movementyou're starting and having the
community hear about us leadersin Santa Ana and people in
general in Santa Ana, so I trulyappreciate you having me here.
Bianca Barquin (01:08):
Bertha, your journey in education is steeped
in compassion and action.
Can you share with ourlisteners what kindled your
passion for education andultimately propelled you into
administrative leadership withthe Santa Ana Unified School
District?
Bertha Benavides (01:25):
Well, I was born in Mexico-- Tijuana, Baja
California and I was brought tothe States when I was three
years old, lived in a garage inInglewood with my mom, my dad
and my little brother, and weended up coming to San Juan
Capistrano, and there I rememberin a little community that was
full of Latinos in that area andduring summer I would have all
(01:49):
the kids come to my house and onthe wall of the dining table I
would put like a piece of paperand teach all the kids the ABCs.
I was just like this is fun.
So I continued my education andin high school I was told by a
counselor that I wasn't going todo anything but flip burgers at
(02:10):
McDonald's.
But I have an older sister thatactually proceeded to go to
college--honor student, I wasnot an honor student, she was.
She went on to communitycollege.
I went on to community collegeand I found a community of
people there-- counselors,people from the ELB to help me,
think a little bit more of who Iam as a human.
(02:32):
First, because I didn't believethat I was going to be anybody,
because I was just told that Iwasn't going to be anybody.
My sister ended up going tocollege.
She went to UCLA.
So I go, "I guess I have tofollow her.
So I went and I had the besttime of my life.
Then I realized I wanted tomake a change with people that
looked like me, and that momentwhere that woman told me, that
(02:55):
counselor told me that I wasn'tgoing to be anybody, really was
a major trigger.
But I converted it into apositive for me to empower me to
continue on.
So that's what led me to be aneducator.
Once I was in an educationalfield as a teacher, I realized I
loved what the administratorswere doing, the community
(03:17):
liaisons, and so I became anoutreach consultant.
And when I became an outreachconsultant at the fourth year
that I was in teaching, I'm like, oh my God, this is me, this is
what I want to do working incommunities, helping people get
resources and what they need andsupport and develop an SST
process a cost process and itwas just so powerful.
(03:39):
Then I was sent into high school, then into the alternative
education system.
When I got into the alternativeeducation system I said, oh my
God, this is where my heartbelongs.
All these students, all mybabies, all these students need
a person that looks like them tobe able to believe in them.
(04:02):
And that's when I realized Ihave to blend what I learned as
an outreach consultant and as aneducator leader inside the
continuation school system andbecome somebody more so to help
our student and communitiesbelieve in themselves.
And that's what I felt I neededto be a leader, because I
(04:23):
needed for kids to see thatthere was people like me, like
them, like us, making adifference and making education
a place of safety, a place oflove where you can go and feel
like you're at home, with thatabuelita, with a tia, with a mom
, with the same kind ofstructure and discipline that
(04:44):
they have at home, and if Iwanted to mirror that in an
institution like a school.
Bianca Barquin (04:50):
Bertha, thank you for sharing that and thank
you for being vulnerable.
I think it's really importantfor all of us to remember that
words matter and what we sayactually matters, and it's
disheartening to me to hear whatthat counselor said to you, but
it also makes me reflect, as aneducator and as an educational
(05:11):
leader, that we should all bevery cognizant of everything
that we say to students each andevery day, and we all have to
have that fundamental belief inthem.
So, Bertha, from baking treatsto developing a nurturing
environment at WillardIntermediate, how does your
intrinsic spirit of generosityand caring shape the experiences
(05:34):
of your students and staff?
Bertha Benavides (05:36):
Well, I just said a little bit about that is
I wanted to bring home to school.
I wanted there not to be anykind of barriers where the kids
and as well as teachers didn'twant to come to an institution
of education.
I wanted them to come to home.
So we started the motto of theWillard familia, and so the
Willard familia is what it isand I tell kids and I tell the
(05:58):
teachers that in families wehave the black sheep, but we
have the one that succeeds andhere we're all going to be
successful.
I go, but sometimes we falltogether and we're going to get
up together, and so I try sohard to give the educators at
Willard an opportunity to feelloved and cared for.
(06:21):
So I will make treats for them,as you said.
I love baking and I show, and alot of Latinos show their love
through cooking, and I willbring, and before Thanksgiving,
I will make 50 little muffinsand pass them out to all the
teachers.
For Christmas I will make thembracelets and little towels for
(06:42):
their hair and just littlethings that they're similar to
when you go home right and youhave a birthday party and they
give you little gifts and theymake you feel loved and for our
students we'll dance together,we'll be like having a great
time and in our announcements weuse Spanish and English and if
we have any students that areVietnamese, I will empower the
(07:03):
students to say good morning atVietnamese over the loudspeaker,
because I want them to feelconnected to the culture and the
beauty of who they are.
And yeah, I know that at timesour family unit or what's going
on at home may not be the bestor may not be perfect, but you
know what it's perfect for ourkids and if we can come to
(07:24):
school and feel that we areloved and cared for, then I
think we're doing a good jobdoing that at Willard.
Bianca Barquin (07:34):
Thank you, Bertha.
Your pivotal role in the EthnicStudies Steering Committee has
seen you work tirelessly tosupport students in meeting this
graduation requirement.
Can you share how thisinitiative is personal to you
and your plan for Ethnic Studiesat Willard Intermediate?
Bertha Benavides (07:51):
I love that question because it goes back to
what I told you earlier (07:53):
how a counselor did not believe in me.
And I truly believe that In myheart it probably wasn't her
fault that she didn't believe inme, that she wasn't aware of
the community change that'shappening in that community
where I went to school at.
She didn't understand how itwas to embrace people of color,
(08:15):
students of immigrant status orpeople that were vulnerable or
had low socioeconomic status.
So I go back to that incidentof negativity and turn it into a
positive, to give our studentsthe opportunity to see the
beauty in themselves and thatit's not a big deal if we might
not have money and live in a bigmansion or we might not fit
(08:38):
into society.
I feel that when I talk aboutEthnic Studies with our students
and I bring it in, I want mystudents to understand how their
culture, their identity, isimportant and educate them to
understand that when we learnabout ourselves or others like
(09:02):
our Native American brothers andsisters, or African American
brothers and sisters, our Jewishbrothers and sisters, our
students that are identifying inthe LGBTQ plus community, we
need to empower our students toknow each other but, most
importantly, know themselves.
And if I, as a leader, can bringin curriculum that empowers
(09:25):
them, they can be allowed tofeel vulnerable to who they are
in their stories, I think thatit is the biggest change for
them.
So they won't have thecounselor that I had oppressing
me, because they're going tounderstand how to stop that
oppression, because they'regoing to be superheroes within
(09:46):
their own skin.
They will be able to empowerthemselves and say I can
advocate for me and I canadvocate for my brother and my
sister.
That people don't trulyunderstand what our struggle is
and our beliefs are.
Bianca Barquin (10:01):
I love that.
Superheroes within our own skin.
I'm going to think about that.
I love that, and I think ourstudents will be better for it
too.
So, Bertha, you're also known,and I know that we've had this
conversation before, but I wantour listeners to hear as well,
you're known for being a staunchadvocate for restorative
(10:21):
practices.
How have these practicestransformed the social and
emotional landscape of yourschool, and can you share an
instance where this approachprofoundly impacted a student or
a situation?
Bertha Benavides (10:35):
I am a big believer of restorative practice
and I think it comes back tothe same traumas and triggers
that I have internalized and Iwant my kids not to have
internalized.
And these issues on hate, thecyber-bullying, the negative
comments and the fights and thedegrading and the use of
(10:57):
negative words are so hurtfuland kids don't understand that.
And restorative practices givesyou an opportunity to have a
conversation that's authenticwith two individuals, three
individuals, four individuals,and break it down and think
about and talk about what isthat word or action that you
(11:22):
caused that pain toward anotherperson.
And my job is to touch uponthat hurt, put a little sprinkle
of love and connection andbelief into the power of being
okay with feeling and being okaywith the person that's causing
the hurt, to understand that youare the one that caused the
(11:45):
hurt, but it doesn't make you abad person.
It makes you a bad person whenyou're not aware that that's
happening.
But the beauty of restorativepractices is when you make that
child's light of power and lovecome to life and say, yes, I
hurt you, but I want toapologize and I didn't know that
(12:07):
my words hurt you that much.
Just recently I had a situationwhere one of my students at the
beginning of the year, outsideof school, they got in an
altercation with another childand these two young men that
attacked the other student hadjust witnessed, two days prior,
police officers beating up onhis friend.
(12:28):
And I 100% believe that thereason these two young men
reacted the way they reacted wasbecause of what the actions
they learned through an incidentthat happened in their own
personal life in society.
Now, when we sat down and wehad a conversation with the
(12:48):
child that was attacked and thetwo children that attacked them,
it was so powerful when Iactually turned around and
looked at the young man andlooked at his face and I said
mijo, you know that it hurt youwhen you saw your friend being
attacked.
Tell me, did it hurt you?
(13:08):
And at that moment that childbroke down, started crying and
he's a kid that never cries andhe was literally crying and he
couldn't hold his tears and Isaid it's okay.
At that moment we had ourrestorative partners, an AP and
myself in the room and we allstarted crying with him and we
(13:29):
said it's okay, because we canhurt together, but we're gonna
heal together.
I go, but what you did is whatyou saw your friend go through.
How does that make you feel?
So at that moment, when I saidthat to this child, he instantly
started crying again.
I go, did it hurt to see yourfriend beat up?
(13:51):
He said, yes, but you did thesame thing to your peer that you
went to school with and heturned around and, literally at
that moment, apologized to himwithout me even asking him to
say sorry.
And that is the strength of therestorative practice.
It's the strength of believingand touching into that pain,
(14:12):
that internalized pain that ourstudents have, and we, little by
little, sprinkle the love thatwe one has to help our students
become vulnerable to feel andcome out with that pain.
Because once you see that childcry or the child get angry, you
see their hands in the fist andthen you see them relaxed, you
(14:33):
know as an adult, you know as afacilitator, you've done your
job.
You touch that part of theirheart that is going to restore
the pain that they haveinternalized through whatever
they have gone through in theirpast.
Bianca Barquin (14:48):
Thank you, Bertha.
It's exactly what you saidbefore-- healing together, and I
think by doing this we allbecome more reflective, right?
And we're teaching children tobe reflective about their own
behaviors and to really deeplythink about things and to think
about others.
Okay, now I want to switchgears a little bit.
Your culinary prowess hasnotably made waves, even being
(15:11):
featured with Jerry on thepremiere episode of Leading with
Flavor.
So my question for you is howdoes your love for cooking and
baking intertwine with yourleadership style, and what, in
your view, is the secretingredient to creating a
wholesome learning environment?
Bertha Benavides (15:28):
It was so much fun being invited by Mr.
Almendarez is to be in his show.
I made enmoladas, made the molefrom scratch.
And it's interesting you saidthat because a lot of that was,
most of the topic was oh, how isthis connected to your
leadership?
And the mole has 23 ingredientsplus some, and the process is
(15:49):
hours and hours to make itperfect.
My leadership is me leadingwith so much of my heart.
And not only that, but I lookedat it like there's 23
ingredients where there'shundreds of kids that I have to
deal with, right, and each childhas to be dealt with
individually and I have to seeeach child with their individual
(16:11):
story.
So when I cook, I cook withindividual ingredients and make
them shine inside the actualrecipe.
And when I lead, I lead knowingthat this student needs this
from me and this student needsthis from me.
So now how can I become achameleon and just become part
(16:34):
of that world of every singlechild, and not only the children
, but the teachers?
What do teachers need from meso I could be connected to them?
What am I gonna do that isgoing to spice up that mole, to
connect with that teacher?
What am I gonna do to give thatextra sweetness to the mole
(16:59):
that is going to make adifference to that child that is
hungry?
That is sad, that is frustrated?
What am I gonna do to blend allthis together to make the
perfect culture, the perfectidentity within a school to feel
safe?
So when you eat something, I putmy Mexican sazón right,
(17:22):
seasoning, and I go bam bam,like you know, used to do, bam
bam, and I do my, amor amor, andI feel that when I cook, I love
, and so when I lead, I love.
So they go hand in hand.
Because as much as I lovespending the time cooking and
(17:42):
baking and it's my therapy timefor me, leading and looking at
kids' eyes and when I dorestorative practice with the
kids, when I have conversationswith teachers, I wanna do it
with love and compassion andconnectedness because when you
do that it becomes a beautifulcultural love inside the school.
(18:03):
But when you do that when youcook, it just gives it that
blessing so the flavors can comeout really, really good.
It's very interesting when I wasmaking the mole and I was in
the process of putting thechicken into the broth and we
were gonna salt it, I toldJerry, look it, when you salt
something, my mom always told meto put the salt, that make the
(18:26):
sign of the cross and because itblesses the food and it makes
it taste a lot better.
You know, I noticed thecafeteria manager.
She was supposed to stay there.
She turned around from doingwhat she was doing and looked at
me and went two thumbs up.
She then calls me last week andtells me you know, I didn't
(18:51):
realize that people actually didthat, because I have taught
that to my children and Iconnected with you at that
moment because I knew that youwere truly doing this with
passion and love.
And when I go home I ask myancestors, my mom's mom, my dad,
my parents, to bless me, tocontinue doing what I do every
(19:16):
day, which is love and connect,because one word that comes out
of my mouth could hurt a child,but one word that comes out of
my mouth could make a difference, and that's what I wanna do
every day as a leader, andthat's what I wanna do when
(19:39):
people eat my food, feel thelove that I have for them and
feel the love that I put intothe food that I have and the
work that I do on a daily basis.
Bianca Barquin (19:51):
Bertha, thank you for your vulnerability.
I have had the honor and thepleasure of working with you,
and love, passion, care,connectedness is exemplified in
every single thing that you do,and I've also had the pleasure
of eating your food, and it'sexemplified there as well.
So thank you.
Next question, Bertha (20:11):
what would you say is distinctively
unique and special about WillardIntermediate, and how does your
approach to leadershipaccentuate and celebrate these
characteristics?
Bertha Benavides (20:25):
You know, Willard is very, very special.
We see kids with trauma, we seekids that hurt, but, most
importantly, we see and we havechildren that love, that love
with their heart, that love withtheir soul, and they care.
Our community cares.
(20:46):
They truly do care.
I have amazing, phenomenaleducators that are willing to
make a change in kids' lives inthose classrooms.
The teachers wake up in themorning and wanna be at Willard.
They make a difference on adaily basis.
Yesterday we had conferencesand teachers were together as a
(21:07):
team working in efforts to makesure our kids are successful.
But people focus on the negativeinstead of the positive and we
need to stop.
We need to stop and think of theamazingness that's happening in
the schools, the opportunitiesthat our kids are getting to
make a change in their ownpersonal lives, the fact that
(21:30):
we're having open endingconversations with kids, we're
having restorative practicesdone by counselors, by teachers,
by administrators that is huge.
The fact that we have all oureighth grade ELA doing eighth
grade ethnic studies ELA ispowerful.
We are giving our students thepower of orgullo, of being proud
(21:55):
of who they are, and when wegive that to students, they in
turn become empowered and inturn behave and, in turn, feel
loved and in turn, make sure ourcommunity feels that they are
worthy of being at that school.
And the message that Iconstantly give our students
(22:16):
through assemblies, throughmorning announcements, is that
we matter and what happensinside the school is important,
but what happens outside, in ourcommunity, it's also important
and it's an image of who we areas a community, as the Willard
Familia, but it's also an imageof who we are as the community
around Willard, and so when kidshave fights outside of school
(22:39):
or they do things during theweekend, it matters to us
because it's part of our family.
I take it very personally, theteam takes it very personally
and we try to solve problems assoon as they are in front of us,
because when we wait it justgets worse.
We do not wanna put a bandaidon hurt, we wanna solve the hurt
(23:01):
.
Bianca Barquin (23:02):
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
There is a beautiful sense offamilia and community over at
Willard.
Your teachers are amazing andyour staff, they work tirelessly
alongside you to meet everychild's needs.
So kudos to all of you fordoing that great work, thank you
.
Now can you walk us through thecore values that steer your
(23:24):
leadership and how these valuesnavigate the decisions,
initiatives and approaches youundertake at Willard?
Bertha Benavides (23:31):
The values that are embraced in my heart
are definitely love andconnectedness and empowering and
I think when kids feel, like Isaid before, when kids, children
, students, humans feel lovedand connected, they feel worthy.
And when a student or a humanfeels worthy, they perform,
right?
And this year we've seen a lotof the behaviors going down in
(23:55):
the classrooms and I trulybelieve it's because our
teachers are doing amazing,amazing lessons in the
classrooms that make ourstudents become authentically
engaged, that they feel worthyof who they are, because, hey,
you know what?
I'm getting a good educationand, yes, I might be reading at
a third grade level, yes, Imight be reading the second
(24:17):
grade level, but my teachercares.
She cares because she makes mefeel worthy and that means that
we will continue to besuccessful.
They will continue bringing insafety into the school and my
values of that are very mirrorto what the kids are doing and
(24:37):
what the staff is doing oncampus.
Bianca Barquin (24:41):
I love it.
You, your staff, you all leadwith heart and you make every
student's individual storymatter, and I so appreciate that
.
So, Bertha, your generosityextends to staff, families and
colleagues, creating a robustcommunity, and you've talked
about this a little bit already.
(25:02):
Tell us a little more.
How do you cultivate andsustain this community spirit
and how has thisinterconnectedness been pivotal,
especially in challenging times?
Bertha Benavides (25:13):
You know, I'm glad you said the last part,
challenging times.
It's not all perfect and, yeah,even though we want the Willard
Familia and the culture in ourcommunity to be positive and
inviting, there's still thoseups and downs and we have to
admit it, we're not all perfect.
I'm not all perfect, the staffis not all perfect.
(25:34):
But we can try and I think thatthere's times where, like
example of last year, toward theend of the year our eighth
grade class was strugglingemotionally, a lot of
social-emotional issues with ourstudents and our community of
teachers were very upset at theadmin that we weren't doing
enough, to the point wheresomebody said I know you want to
(25:56):
do it the long way, but we wantdiscipline now and that was,
that's not who I am.
I have to give students theopportunity to grow.
I have to give students theopportunity for change and I
think that this year we'vetalked so much about our way of
(26:18):
performing in front of theclassrooms, the way we talk to
our students, the way weinteract with our students, that
our students are knowing andnow believing that it's
authentic.
We're not just doing it becausethat's what the principal said
or that's what the assistantprincipal said or that's what we
all agreed to.
(26:38):
Now it's really authentic and Ican feel the culture changing.
Yet, even though it's not beenperfect, it's getting better and
it hopefully will get better,right?
But it doesn't mean that we'renot gonna fall.
But if we fall, as any Personof Color and any person in the
(26:59):
world, we're all resilient and Ithink as a team, as a group of
teachers, as a group of studentsand a group of community
members, we are buildingresiliency in our students to
get up and move forward and ifwe fall, we fall together and we
(27:19):
all will get up together.
For example, the lastaltercation I had was two weeks
ago and I said I had an assembly, 10- minute assembly, saying
this is going to stop and we'reall our family here.
So what are we going to do?
During lunch, sixth graderswill sit with sixth grade,
seventh with seventh grade,eight h with eighth grade,
(27:41):
because we're going to take itas a team.
Not one child fought it.
They all sat where they weresupposed to sit.
It was beautiful because theyknew that we had this together.
One person, two people messedup, we all messed up, and so
it's the cultivating, thatorgullo and the connectedness
(28:01):
that we have within ourcommunity of teachers, community
members and students.
Bianca Barquin (28:06):
Brilliant.
Okay, Bertha, so as you gazeinto the future, what
aspirations do you harbor forWillard Intermediate and how do
you envision its growth andevolution in the coming years?
Bertha Benavides (28:19):
We've done a lot of work with the group of
teachers on the Graduate Profileand the Board priorities and I
think that that's our ultimatefocus is to have our teachers
understand that our students arerequired, and not only
required, we should embrace theGraduate Profile because that is
what SAUSD wants our kids toleave when they're 12th graders
(28:43):
and they go to college.
We want them to beliteracy-focused, numeracy-
focused.
We want them to be goodcommunicators.
We want them to be thoseamazing individuals that are
going to make themselves lookamazing but yet also make SAUSD
amazing.
So I think the focus of Willardis to continue the path of
(29:07):
change and believing andempowering and not only just
empowering kids, empoweringteachers themselves to become
the best of them, because ifthey're not the best of who they
are, they can't be the best forthe children they are teaching.
So empowering teachers and thelove they have and maybe the
(29:29):
biases that come with into theirclassrooms, and really focusing
on who they are.
I think it's incredible.
We just had a pullout day forall the teachers, but it was
scattered through departmentsand I was telling the team the
Dashboard coach and the FutureReady coach that I wanted the PD
(29:52):
to be a time for reflection.
I didn't want it to be a PDwhere we're just going to vomit
strategies and information tothem.
I said it's time for them justto have a reflective moment for
themselves.
And within the training I saidlet's do a poem.
We're in a Turnaround ArtsSchool and a couple of people
(30:15):
went to a retreat and they hadmentioned a while back one of
the activities, and so I saidwhy don't we do a similar
activity where we're looking atan image and they had to do a
poem with that image?
So I said I'm going to go hereand I'm not going to lie the
Future Ready coach was a littlehesitant because I said I want
(30:37):
you to print out two pictures ofthe same Latino kid, two of an
African American child, two of aNative American child, two of
an Asian child, Pacific Islanderchild and a community member
from the LGBTQ plus community,and then you're going to put
them in a folder and you'regoing to pair two, you're going
(30:58):
to give those two images to twoteachers and you're going to
have them write five words thatthey know when they see that
picture, what are the five wordsthat come out of looking at
that image and five phrases andwith those five words and five
phrases they got a constructionpaper, they glued the picture of
the image of the individualchild and then they organized
(31:20):
their poem.
Then they had to share it witheach other.
I wanted the teachers to look atthe lens they're looking at
this human from and realize thatthe other partner may have seen
that image in a completelydifferent way.
But that doesn't mean it's bad.
They're both correct.
(31:41):
But how we communicate aboutthat is what we make and empower
.
So that is the movement we wantfor Willard to have our
teachers feel loved andconnected and understand that
the community of students thatwe work with it's just not one
type of student, it's manystudents.
And yet, even though Santa Anais predominantly Latino, it
(32:06):
doesn't mean that our kids thatare Latinos, are not Jewish, are
not also partly AfricanAmerican or partly Native
American or partly white.
So the ethnicity component inconversation needs to continue
happening, because that iswhat's going to develop open
minds and awareness into thecommunity of teachers and
(32:28):
students.
Bianca Barquin (32:29):
What a great reflective exercise.
Not only did you help them lookinwardly and to really think
about diversity, but then youactually had them share, so then
they could hear each other'sperspectives.
I think that's a fantasticexercise for your teachers, and
hopefully they were reallyexcited about it and were able
to open up their own minds in away by hearing from one another,
(32:52):
so I think it's fabulous.
The last question I have foryou: what's a personal story or
perhaps a little-known fact thatyou'd like to share with our
listeners today to know thewoman behind all of these
remarkable deeds?
Bertha Benavides (33:06):
That I'm a person with a lot of emotions
and a lot of what happened in,my when I was in elementary, in
my youth, it wasn't perfect, itwasn't the best, but I converted
the worst to become the best.
That's my superpower.
To be able to, when I getoppressed or when I am oppressed
(33:27):
, I turn that oppression to apowerful experience in that I
convert into I am going to dowhat you just told me I can't
do, and I think that that helpsme become really strong and
resilient and keep believing inmyself and, like I mentioned
(33:48):
before, in stopping thatimposter syndrome that I
constantly have, because I feelthat, as an immigrant, Mexicana,
chicana, I shouldn't be aleader, I shouldn't be in
education, I should be flippingburgers, like my counselor told
me.
But I'm not.
I'm here to empower, to make adifference and to love with my
(34:15):
heart.
Bianca Barquin (34:17):
And you are doing all of those things.
Bertha, before we sign off,it's time for our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
So if you could amplify themessage or lesson of one
educator or leader who's made animpact in your journey, who
would it be and what is thatresonating message?
Bertha Benavides (34:39):
I have to say that it was my counselor at the
community college.
Her name is Mariana de Saracho.
She believed in me.
She believed in who I was andwho I am now.
But I also want to thank mysister, Corina.
She's the professor at DomiguezHills.
(35:01):
She also empowered me to believewho I was and who I am, and
they told me never allow anybodyto put you down, because you're
stronger than that foot that'soppressing you, and I strongly
believe that, thanks to them, Iam who I am, as well as one of
(35:24):
my mentors that I met during myeducation career, which is my
true friend, Mary Thamen.
She's an amazing woman.
She was an outreach consultantwhen I was and she, I would
always struggled with readingand writing.
Being a second language learner,I wasn't good enough and she
(35:44):
was like, she saved me tobelieve that I could, that I am
worthy, and she's retired and Ilove her to death.
And I go visit her in Oregonall the time and she tells me
you have taught me so much.
But I really think that she hastaught me.
So we've taught each other.
So we've gone through thisjourney of growth together and I
(36:07):
take everything that Mariana,my sister, Mary Thamen, has
given me and I put it in alittle bottle and every time I
feel that I can't, it's likethat, the Little Train That
Can't, I said I open it up and Iget empowered by those three
women that have told me I couldand, of course, my mother,
having always believing in who Iam and believing in my loudness
(36:30):
, my charismatic energy and justthe laughter that I bring into
the world in my family.
So that is who I am and that'swhat I love to be.
Bianca Barquin (36:44):
Thank you, Bertha, such powerful
acknowledgments.
Our dive into Bertha's worldhas not only showcased the
tangible impact of compassionateleadership, but also has
reflected the essence ofcreating an environment where
every child and every educatoris seen, acknowledged and valued
.
Her tales of culinary joy,strategic advocacy and ethnic
(37:08):
studies and the adeptapplication of restorative
practices within the educationalspace echo the profound truth
that leadership is, at its core,about service, care and
fostering a sense of belonging.
Bertha, your journey and theinitiatives at Willard
Intermediate are like thecherished recipes you share,
(37:28):
filled with love, thoughtfullycrafted and intentionally
designed to bring warmth andtogetherness.
You've shown us that the keyingredient to successful
leadership and an engaged schoolcommunity is, without a doubt,
love.
Love that is expressed throughactions, decisions and every
batch of treats that you sharein the spirit of community.
(37:50):
Until next time, stay inspired,stay compassionate and continue
amplifying the positive echoeswithin and around you.
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