Dear Saenz Elementary Superstar Family,
**I would like to introduce myself to those that I have not had the opportunity or privilege to meet. This is my 5th year as the school counselor here at Saenz Elementary in my hometown of Alice. Prior to being the school counselor, I worked as Pre-Kinder teacher, Kinder teacher, 2nd grade teacher and counselor at Salazar Elementary School. It was in the valley that I began my career as a teacher, after graduating from the University of Texas-Pan American, in the little Texas town of Progreso, the bordering town of Progreso, Mexico. If you know the little town, you also know that the mascot was a Red Ant. So I was a Red Ant before I came back to my beloved town to become a Nayer Bear, Roadrunner and Superstar. There, I began my career as a Pre-Kinder teacher where the community was very small but very tight knit, rich in culture and mostly spanish speaking. The majority of my 5 years in the valley were spent speaking Spanish and developing friendships that were so dynamic and diversified in their background and experiences. It was amazing, but at the same time, very scary and very new to me because the valley is a very large area of south texas made up of many smaller towns, with McAllen and Harlingen being the bigger more metropolitan areas of the valley, bringing many students from near and far because of the university. It is important to mention this part of my background because it was there that my foundation was first established. There, I first learned how important an educator was, in every capacity, and the work and duty it took to bring the best experience to the students. There, I learned about the importance of the counselor as a teacher and the critical role a counselor can hold in child development. It was as a teacher that I developed a strong drive to become a counselor. During my master’s studies at UT-Pan Am and Texas A & M-Kingsville, surrounded by amazing individuals also sharing similar ideals and driven by the same love of education with the same understanding that a need for counselors in school was crucial, I had a profound, enlightening and rich educational experience that continues to stay with me and drive me to this day after 23 years of service in the education field. This brings me to my point in sharing my educational background…the foundation of a child, like my foundation as an educator, is critical to their life experience and in their development. So it is with my understanding of child development that I say it starts with you as a parent so that they will then see that it starts with them by your example. It also starts with me as a counselor and educator in their social/emotional development so that they will then see that it starts with them as respectful, kind and caring citizens in their school community and beyond. I am privileged to be your child’s elementary school counselor at Saenz Elementary and I am here to help and support you and your children in any way I can. **
With Love,
Mrs. C. R. Ramos-School Counselor
Saenz Elementary School