Hays Post
Hays High School senior Natalia Figuerea-Rodriguez has maintained a 3.9 grade point average.
But Figuerea-Rodriguez has a unique set of challenges she has had to overcome to earn that honor.
Figuerea-Rodriguez is from Puerto Rico. She and her family settled in Hays after being displaced by Hurricane Maria. Figuerea-Rodriguez’s native language is Spanish.
Figuerea-Rodriguez was nominated by Suellyn Stenger, HHS counselor, and Linda Mayer, English language learners teacher for the USD 489 Best of the Best award.
“She literally lost a lot of things,” Stenger said, “friendships, home, belongings. She came here with her native-speaking language being Spanish. If I had two words to describe Natalia, it would be resiliency and perseverance.”
Stenger emailed the Best of the Best nomination form to Figuerea-Rodriguez’s teachers.
One teacher said, “I never knew the circumstances around Natalia’s transfer to Hays High School. I just knew she had an incredible intellect and work ethic.”
Another teacher said, “I absolutely love having her in class. Her effort is worth a million bucks.”
Her ELL teacher spoke to the school board in Spanish to illustrate how difficult it is to try to understand a school lesson spoken in language that is not your own.
“If you found it a little bit difficult to understand what I was saying, then you understand what Natalia has been going through for the past year, and she has done it exceptionally well with a 3.9 cumulative GPA in her content classes in her second language. We are extremely proud of her,” Mayer said.
The staff member who was honored with the Best of the Best award was Candace Sage, a second-grade teacher at Wilson Elementary School.
Parent Laycie Haas, along with her two sons and daughter, Kaden, Konner and Khloe Haas, nominated Sage for the Best of the Best award.
Sage taught all three of the Haas children. Khloe, the youngest, is in her class now.
“She goes above and beyond for all of her students in her classroom,” Laycie said. “Every year she implements new ideas and learning opportunities with her students.”
This year Sage added monthly ag lesson, which Laycie said was important to her family because they live on a farm.
With her sons, Laycie had the opportunity to volunteer in the Sage’s class. She said she was able to witness Sage’s amazing teaching techniques.
“She does so many other things like taking the kids to Via Christi to interact with the residents,” Laycie said. “Both of my older two had the same resident, and even today they will still talk about him and his stories. They had an awesome bond. That is something that is an awesome skill — to learn how to interact with people who are older than you are.
“Along with school work, she teaches them life lessons and rewards their hard work and dedication with fun Friday activities.”
Laycie’s son had an assignment in his last weeks of elementary school to write a letter to the teacher who had the most impact on him. He wrote about Sage.
“We are extremely blessed to have met her, and I am so blessed that my kids were able to have her as a teacher,” Laycie said. “She has left a life-long imprint on our family’s lives. Her dedication is top-notch, and I believe without a doubt that she is an awesome recipient of this award.”