2007 Award Winners

Adelina Flores
Albany Park Community Center
5101 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago
Head Start

In a Head Start classroom on Chicago’s northwest side, 31-year-old Adelina Flores has answered Rodney King’s 1991 plea: Yes, apparently, we can all get along. In her 20-student classroom at the NAEYC-accredited Albany Park Community Center (APCC), Flores, her assistant, Imelda Mendoza, and her aide, Paula Hernandez, work to develop mutual respect and socialization skills among students who come from 13 different countries, many learning English for the first time. “We serve families from Bulgaria, Cambodia, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico and many African and Central and South American countries,” says Flores. “To bring so many different cultures together in a single room, you must nurture an environment of respect for such rich diversity.”

That’s exactly what Flores does, through modeling and activities that teach children to value differences. “Parents are an integral part of our curriculum,” she explains. “They are the link to the child’s culture. When they participate with their children in culture-specific activities, such as drawing the flag from their native country, and when they speak to the classroom about their customs, they plant the seeds that develop an accepting environment.”

Showing such respect for her students’ parents has earned Flores respect in her own right. “I have never had a rapport with any teacher like I did with Adelina,” exclaims Amy Aleman, whose daughter was in Flores’ class a few years ago. “Adelina stands out as the most amazing teacher my daughter ever had.”

Besides learning to respect other cultures, these lessons also help children to begin to shape their own identity. “While they are celebrating differences in food, clothing and language, they are also celebrating their own food, clothing, and language, and being recognized for these things by their peers,” she says. “That instills pride.”

“In Adelina’s classroom, there are at least five different languages spoken by the children and many different religions are represented,” says Amy Labb, APCC Head Start co-director and education coordinator. “Adelina fosters an environment of respect that carries over to the children.” That happens very naturally in Flores’ classroom. For instance, a Vietnamese child might ask for more sua, the Vietnamese word for milk, and the other children might repeat the word.

Flores understands these children because she was once herself an English-language learner. She entered first grade as a new arrival to this country, with no prior experience with English. Her wonderful teachers at the Chicago Public Schools inspired her. In fact, when Flores graduated college, she invited her former first grade teacher to the graduation. “It was rewarding to see her again and to let her know how much of a model she was for me,” says Flores.

But Flores didn’t always envision herself as a teacher. “I wanted to become a scientist, an artist, a police officer, a veterinarian … you name it and I wanted to be it,” proclaims Flores. “Now, as a teacher, I can become the scientist, the artist, the police officer, the veterinarian … whatever is needed for the day’s exploration."