{"id":40320,"date":"2022-05-31T13:46:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T19:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fire-cant-extinguish-mora-educators-passion-for-teaching\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T19:46:38","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T19:46:38","slug":"fire-cant-extinguish-mora-educators-passion-for-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fire-cant-extinguish-mora-educators-passion-for-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire can\u2019t extinguish Mora educator\u2019s passion for teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alyssa
Alyssa Sanchez, a teacher with Mora Independent Schools, shares a computer so Jeremiah Duran, left, and his sister Jazzlyn Duran, can say hello to the students Sanchez is speaking with May 24 at the Querque Hotel in Albuquerque. Sanchez, who lost her home to the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon Fire, has continued helping the displaced students also living in her hotel to keep up with their schoolwork through in-person instruction in the final days of the school year. (Gabriela Campos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Gabriela Campos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) \u2013 Alyssa Sanchez\u2019s home was destroyed and her professional life uprooted by the massive Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon wildfire.<\/p>\n

But the 29-year-old Sanchez, a Mora teacher, refused to let the fire extinguish her love of educating kids.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been staying at the Querque Hotel off Interstate 25 in Albuquerque, where the families of many Mora students also have been housed since they were forced to evacuate their homes. In an effort to return their lives to some sense of normality, Sanchez set up a makeshift classroom in a small dining room near the lobby.<\/p>\n

Officials say the northward progress of the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon blaze can be halted with continued favorable conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two years of COVID, we got back to a \u2018normal-ish\u2019 school year, and then this fire broke out,\u201d Sanchez said as she waited for her students. \u201cI said, \u2018I have to do something to help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea occurred to her shortly after she moved into the hotel in mid-May. She ran into Denise Duran, the mother of one of her students, sixth grader Jazzlyn, in a hotel hallway. Duran said her daughter needed help with her studies or she would fall behind.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremiah
Jeremiah Duran and sister Jazzlyn Duran chat online with other students, some whom have returned home, at the Querque Hotel in Albuquerque on May 24. The Duran family was displaced by the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon Fire and has received in-person instruction from teacher Alyssa Sanchez at the Querque Hotel in the final days of the school year. (Gabriela Campos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Gabriela Campos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sanchez went to work, offering morning classes to about 15 Mora students living in the hotel at the time.<\/p>\n

Only a handful were still there last week, as the school year comes to a close, and just a few, including Jazzlyn, showed up for classes May 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer positivity has been amazing,\u201d Duran said of Sanchez as her daughter sat at the teacher\u2019s table. \u201cShe didn\u2019t let what happened back home faze her.\u201d<\/p>\n

All four of Duran\u2019s children who attend Mora schools have lost valuable learning time because of the coronavirus pandemic and the fire, she said. Knowing Sanchez is there to help them makes her feel \u201cit\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez has offered students of all ages lessons in whatever they need \u2013 math, reading, history or just a check-in on their emotional or mental well-being.<\/p>\n

\"Alyssa
Alyssa Sanchez, teacher with Mora Independent Schools, speaks online with a student who has returned to Mora, N.M, after being displaced by the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon Fire on May 24 from the dining area of the Querque Hotel in Albuquerque. (Gabriela Campos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Gabriela Campos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI think COVID has stolen these kids\u2019 education,\u201d Sanchez said. Noting the pandemic basically shut down the end of the school year in 2020 and disrupted learning in much of 2021, she said Jazzlyn has \u201cnot had a normal school year since the third grade. For her, going into the seventh grade, that\u2019s a long time to not have a normal school year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez, who was born and raised in Mora, said she had planned to enter the field of dentistry. But after looking at \u201ca few too many mouths\u201d in dental college classes, she decided that wasn\u2019t for her.<\/p>\n

She waited on tables \u2013 and still does as a side job \u2013 until she decided to study to be a teacher at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. She was inspired by her mother, Evelyn Sanchez, a nearly 30-year veteran of the profession.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Sanchez, who also is staying in the Querque Hotel as she awaits approval to return to her home in Mora, said her daughter told her she wanted to be anything but a teacher when she was younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me I was stupid to be a teacher,\u201d Alyssa Sanchez recalled with a laugh. \u201cNever say never, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alyssa Sanchez has taught math and reading to special education students in the Mora school district for several years. She considers it a gift and said her favorite part of the job is watching her students \u201cgraduate from Day One to the last day of school\u201d as they learn along the way.<\/p>\n

She was one of those people who thought the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon Fire, which has grown to more than 314,000 acres, would not reach her mobile home. New Mexico State Police knocked on her door and told her to evacuate one day in late April, and her home burned 10 days later.<\/p>\n

The fire destroyed the trailer in about five minutes, she said.<\/p>\n

She and her boyfriend, Chase Perez, got out with their dog, Scooter, two bearded dragons, a couple of pictures and enough clothes to last them a few days. They thought they eventually would go back for the rest, but now there is nothing to go back to.<\/p>\n

She still hasn\u2019t returned to see the scorched remains of her home.<\/p>\n

Sanchez said the one item she regrets not taking with her is a purse her late grandmother gave her shortly before she died.<\/p>\n

Despite her losses, Sanchez does not bear any sense of sadness or anger. \u201cWhat is the worst that could happen?\u201d she said. \u201cIt happened. I have nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, she said, she has everything: a job she loves and students she knows and cares for.<\/p>\n

The hotel, in some ways, briefly became a small version of Mora \u2013 a tightknit community where everyone knows everyone else. Parents of Sanchez\u2019s students have called her to ask if she needs a place to live after her home went up in flames.<\/p>\n

She and her boyfriend will move into her mother\u2019s house until they can find a new place of their own and start over, she said, adding, \u201cWe\u2019re going to go back, and we\u2019re going to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

The principal of Sanchez\u2019s school, Lefonso Castillo, said many Mora teachers are still giving lessons virtually but Sanchez may be the only one who has been doing it in person since the district shut down. He said she is a strong advocate for special education students who \u201creally bonds with the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez said she has never regretted choosing the life of a teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never knew my heart could hold so many kids,\u201d said Sanchez, who doesn\u2019t have any children of her own.<\/p>\n

\"Teacher
Teacher Alyssa Sanchez takes out class pet Yoda, a bearded dragon, to show students in the Albuquerque hotel room she has been staying in after being evacuated to the Querque Hotel in Albuquerque. Sanchez, who lost her home to the Hermits Peak\/Calf Canyon Fire, has continued helping the displaced students also living in her hotel to keep up with their schoolwork through in-person instruction in the final days of the school year. (Gabriela Campos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Gabriela Campos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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