By Margarita Gomez
Staff Writer
Photograph by Adriana Sánchez
Gertrude Hanks was the name of my exchange school in my sophomore year. When I arrived, some people who knew me start talking to me. They became my new friends. Of course, when I changed schools, I also changed professors. It wasn’t that bad at all. I was happy.
I had to catch up with everything, but I did it. My professor for literature was, as were most of the professors, an old lady. She was kind of strict, but that’s how professors are.
One day, she told us that not right now, but later on we would thank her for everything that she taught us.
Then, in my junior year, a new professor for literature showed up. We, Red Prom 2006 - or as our name went, “Post Tenebras Lux,” which means “after darkness, light” - heard some stuff about her, that she was very strict and mean.
When we heard the bell, we knew that she was coming to teach us. When she arrived, all of us were afraid that she would be mean - one of those professors who leave too much homework.
That day, I think she was also scared. She didn’t know how to treat us, didn’t know if this would work out. She introduced herself as Miss Hilda Navarro, our new professor for literature.
That day, I think she realized that we were a team. The next day she was a different person. Besides being our teacher, she became our best friend.
Miguel Fernandez, one of my friends, said, “she looked like she behaved crazy, different from her age, but in a good way.” Our classes were very entertaining. We had fun and we learned a lot, too.
We had a team presentation about an author, where we disguised ourselves as a character from a book. It was fascinating. She didn’t only become a nice professor of literature. No one could wait for the class to start. She was like family, like another mother for us.
As people say, school is like your second home. We found our second mom. Time flew by, as it usually does, and without us realizing, it was Red Prom 2006’s senior year. We were hoping that our advisor would be Miss Hilda, but instead we had Miss Edith Ponce again. She was a math teacher, and one of the professors who helped me understand math well enough that I’m taking Calculus II now.
Even though our “wish” didn’t come true, we had fun with Miss Ponce. The fun of our senior year didn’t stop. Of course, we were sad that we were leaving to different places. But we promised that we were always going to be together, so it was OK for that moment.
Some students in their sophomore, junior and senior years were in a program wherein she was our advisor. We wrote articles about a specific topic, and then we posted them on huge wood posters with pictures and decorations. It was called “Viva Informado”. We stayed until late at the school to work on the articles with her.
We also continued having Miss Hilda’s educative and entertaining literature class.
Once, the director of the school asked me why we didn’t have a barbeque or a sleepover at the school. I passed the news to my fellow students, and we decided to do a sleepover. We needed to find a professor to stay with us, and of course our choice was Miss Hilda.
The event was going to be on a Saturday, from 7 p.m. to the next day. Not everyone from the prom could make it, but even so we had fun.
We knew from histories that the school was haunted, that a girl died there and her soul was haunting the junior’s classroom. We decided to do the sleepover in the sophomore’s classroom, which was connected by a door to the junior classroom.
Our camping day arrived. We bought soda and, of course, vodka. When we arrived in our almost-haunted room, we put our sleeping bags on the floor and changed into our pajamas.
Then we started playing Twister. The team that lost was the team that drank. If you want to check it out you can go to www.youtube.com and search for “Twister: parte 1” to 7, from cwalkher.
After playing “hide and seek” and “treasure hunt,” we went outside to the playground area, where we rested. When I took a picture of my friends lying down, the photo came out looking as if there was a bonfire in the middle of them. We were scared, since we had heard that the school was haunted. Then we went to our sleeping bags for a good, scary night.
When we woke up, some of our friends said that in the haunted room they heard moving chairs. Thank god when we heard that it was morning and we knew our parents were coming to pick us up. What I will never forget was that Miss Hilda was with me - with us - all the time.
When it was December and our graduation day came, we knew that we would not have Miss Hilda as our professor again.
During our break, my friend and I decided to meet and go out. We invited Miss Hilda. That day was her birthday, and we had fun together.
Less than a month later, I came to America and never saw her again. Later on, I heard that the school fired her, and that she was working in another place.
About two weeks ago, I finally chatted with her. She said that she was OK, looking for a job, but OK. We talked about the stuff that we did in Viva Informado. It made me happy that even though I wasn’t her student anymore, she called me daughter.
She was like a mother for me. She was with me when I was in my Dark Room, when I was down and depressed, and especially for all the crazy stuff that I did.
What I remember best about her will always be her amazing classes, her spontaneity, her joy, and her love for everyone.
I miss my professor. I miss her classes and her advice, but she will always be in my heart as wonderful Miss Hilda Navarro, professor of literature.
Graduation Day with Ponce and Miss Hilda.
It's a day that neither Miss Hilda nor we will forget.
Photograph by Adriana Sánchez
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