Smith: Graduation Day in Palomas

It’s Saturday, June 14 in Palomas, Mexico and the San Vicente auditorium is quickly filling up with students and their families. This will be a special ceremony for some 130 students who have successfully finished their school year.

These students have received scholarships from a Santa Fe-based program called Alas de Amor and the goal is to praise their accomplishments and encourage them to continue their education the following year. There are students for all grades but only two graduating seniors. 

I first encountered Jim and Pat Noble, the founders of Alas de Amor as well as La Casa de Amor Para Ninos 15 years ago but they actually started these programs 26 years ago. At that time, Jim Noble was a partner in the Santa Fe law firm, Noble and Vrapi. Now he has retired, and he and Pat are living in Texas, eleven hours away by car. A long drive for their monthly meetings in Palomas.

Originally La Casa was an orphanage for some 20 to 30 children. The constantly changing governmental bureaucracy made it impossible to continue, even though the need is great. So, this scholarship program has evolved and grown. The Nobles are expecting 170 applicants for next year.

 While there are no tuition costs at the local schools, buying uniforms and books is expensive in this very impoverished community and many students simply dropped out.

Eunice Herrera’s graduation. (Photo: Morgan Smith)

Education has been a driving force for the Nobles and their team of volunteers. Several years ago, they took the lead in raising money for a high school building. Then they expanded this scholarship program to include kids going on to college. I sponsored two young men, but both dropped out. I’m hoping for better luck with Pablo who I met for the first time at this event. My two previous students came from struggling families and just couldn’t get the support they needed to continue. In addition, there are no placement programs, no assistance for those who might graduate to get jobs. And there are few jobs in tiny Palomas (pop. about 4,700)

At the moment, however, this large auditorium is full of excitement and enthusiasm. At the front of the room there is a long row of tables behind which sit the principals of the schools these students attend. The students file by, get their certificates and then run back to their waiting families. There is a sense of optimism here, an optimism that is often missing here in Santa Fe according to teacher friends, including my daughter.

Eunice Herrera is a key member of the Noble’s team. She was the Emcee at the Mother’s Day celebration that I attended in May 2010, my first encounter with this program. She worked as a law clerk in Santa Fe but several of us persuaded her to strive for more and now she is a partner in Jim Noble’s old law firm here. When she graduated from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas, she persuaded a faculty member to come to Palomas for La Casa’s Mother’s Day celebration and present her with her diploma there. “I wanted the kids in Palomas to see what a young Mexican woman could accomplish. I wanted to set an example.” she said.

I see this thirst for education all along the border. 

At the Respettrans migrant shelter in the center of Juárez, for example, there are always women who have some knowledge of English, and they organize daily classes for the children. They want these kids to be able to communicate if and when they are granted asylum and end up in a US city. The pride with which these kids show off their workbooks is impressive. 

In Anapra next to Juárez, where a kid named Victor once showed me that he could climb the border wall for a dollar, he is still continuing his education despite the pressures to become a look out or “halcón” for the local cartel.

We need that enthusiasm in our country. An influx of these motivated kids would help but that is unlikely in this political climate. In the meantime, all I can do is support Pablo and encourage him to stick it out and get his degree.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by New Mexico-based writer Morgan Smith. He can be reached at Morgan-smith@comcast.net. 

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