By Jessica Johansson, UW News Lab student.
Edited by Anne-Marije Rook

After 21 years at Ballard High School and inspiring hundreds of students along the way, Nohra Giraldo is retiring from her post as the Proyecto Saber teacher.

A native of Colombia, Giraldo moved to Seattle at the age of 20 with her husband, Gerry. She knew that she wanted a career and aspired to become an ambassador. Her husband’s idea, however, was for her to become a teacher.

“When he told me that I thought, oh no, that’s not what I am thinking,” Giraldo said. “Then I went to Seattle Pacific University and graduated from there and became a teacher. I am so glad I became a teacher. I just love what I am doing.”

In 1990, Giraldo introduced Proyecto Saber at Ballard High School, a program that has been around since 1975 designed to provide academic support for Chicano/Latino students. The programs aims to motivate students, monitor them, and help them graduate. It is offered as an elective at both Ballard High School and West Seattle's Chief Sealth High School and has been very successful with a large increase in graduation rates.

Giraldo said the average of students in the program graduating was 90 percent between 2007 and 2009.

Giraldo will retire at the end of this school year to join her husband who also retired recently.

“It is very hard for me, I am very attached to the students, and I am attached to the program,” said Giraldo. “I have students come to me all the time telling me that they don’t believe I am retiring, that they are going to go on strike, and that they don’t think they are going to graduate.”

Between 80 to 110 students participate in the program and Giraldo thinks that every school needs to have such a program. but unfortunately, school districts cannot always afford it.

When Giraldo first came to Ballard High, the principal came up to her and told me that there was one student he wanted her to work with. If she could just tone the kid down, her job would be done, Giraldo recalls.

“I met with him and asked him, ‘How can you pass classes if you don’t even go to class and you don’t do any homework?’ Sure enough, he told me it was because teachers were scared of him. So I looked at him and said, ‘You know what? Sorry, Mister, but I am not afraid of you’, "Giraldo said.

"He was a very tough guy, in a gang and everything. One day they called me from his computer class because they had a problem. And when I got there he had the computer in his hands ready to throw it at the teacher."

This same guy didn't want to show anybody that he carried books, so Giraldo came up with a solution. She gave him a set of books for home and a set for when he was at school. The day of graduation, Giraldo was sitting in the stands and she saw this guy walk in holding a bouquet of flowers. She couldn’t believe it because he wouldn’t even carry books to school and now he was carrying flowers in front of the graduation class.

“I thought to myself, oh it must be a girlfriend, he was a ladies guy,” Giraldo continued. “So after graduation, everybody meets outside and talks, and I walked up to him and asked him what he was doing with those flowers. And he says, ‘These are for you.’ And I cried. Even to this day it was the most unbelievable thing.”

At times, there have been students who would go to Giraldo’s class but then leave right after, not attending any other classes. Giraldo started to walk these students to class, just to make sure they wouldn’t leave.

Not only has the graduation rate gone up, but the WASL scores have also reportedly improved among the program's students since the program started.

“The cooperation I have with the parents really helps me,” said Giraldo. “If you have the connection with the parents, then half of your job is done.”

Many Chicano/Latino parents used to send their kids to Ballard High School from all over the area; some kids would even take three buses to get to school. This is no longer allowed due to strict boundary.

“It is really sad there isn’t the boundary exceptions or one of these programs at each school, because parents see that the kids are doing well, they see the higher graduation rates and they see that the program is working, but don’t have that opportunity for their kids,” Giraldo said. “Ballard is pretty expensive. I have a family where the mother got two jobs to be able to move into Ballard so her kids can come to Ballard High School.”

She added that nearly 90 percent of her students work after school, sometimes until late at night.

"They don’t work so they can buy a car; it is just to help their families so that they can survive,” she said.

Right now Giraldo has two students living on their own because their parents were picked up by immigration officials.

A lot of these kids have so much potential and just need someone to help guide them a little and for someone to believe in them, she said.

Victor Rios, a student who was in Proyecto Saber and graduated in 2010 said Giraldo was very helpful.

“I am the definition of struggle. I am what some people called trouble” before joining the program, he said.

Julie Chapman, a counselor at Ballard High School praised Nohra for being an "inspirational leader, teacher, and advocate at Ballard High School."

“Her efforts have truly made the world a better place for countless numbers of students and families,” Chapman said. “Nohra lives and models the importance of education– she instills in her students a desire to achieve and she helps them learn the steps they need to take to achieve. She holds students accountable and they rise to meet her expectations. She is strong, caring, determined, and loyal. We will miss her.”

Giraldo plans to write a book featuring all of the inspirational stories she has. Her last day is June 30, and then she will hand the program over to someone else.

“It is not easy to say goodbye to something you have built,” Giraldo said.

In the Spotlight (formerly Neighborhood Gems) is a feature series highlighting the unsung heroes in the community. Know anyone who should be featured? Let us know! Email anner@robinsonnews.com