Nina Otero teacher inspires with encouragement, love of her work
May 24—When the crowd at Nina Otero Community School heard about the award, they cheered. They clapped. They stomped their feet in approval.
And the woman who received the honor? Pre-kindergarten teacher Carrie Ortega did her best to hold back her tears.
"I love these kids," said Ortega as she looked over a well-behaved contingent of her charges in the school's gym seconds after learning she had been chosen as one of this year's Teachers Who Inspire.
Being a teacher, she told the assembly, already in attendance for a pre-K student promotion ceremony, "is truly magical."
With the exception of one year canceled because of the pandemic, Partners in Education, a nonprofit that supports Santa Fe Public Schools, has given the Teachers Who Inspire award to more than 180 teachers since 1992, said Ruthanne Greeley, executive director of Partners in Education. Ortega, 35, is the seventh and last teacher to receive the award this year.
Each recipient also gets a check for $1,500 and a glass apple. An anonymous donor has provided the funds for the program.
Teachers are nominated by their peers, and Ortega's nomination letter said she uses everything possible "to make her students enjoy learning and continuing to coming to school. Carrie is constantly utilizing the student interests and connecting them to the curriculum to keep the kids engaged.
"She goes out of her way to make each day new and full of fun," the letter continued. "When students are having a harder time she not only helps with hugs and positive words of encouragement but she makes schedules, charts, and even an amazing calm down area for friends."
Partners in Education usually teams with school officials to trick — er, surprise — recipients by presenting the awards during a regularly scheduled school assembly, as was the case Monday.
Ortega's two children, Zack, 9, and Emi, 8, were on hand as well. Both attend Nina Otero, so their appearance wasn't all that surprising. But her husband, Julio Ortega, also showed up in the gym for the event. Ortega still didn't get that she was being set up — she said she figured Julio was there just to watch the promotion ceremony.
Turns out, everybody saw an emotion ceremony, with the appreciation for Ortega's efforts evident with each clap and cheer and stomp.
"She's one of the best teachers I know," Zack said of his mom, adding his mother is "really smart. She helps out the kids in her class."
Emi — who said she wants to grow up to be a teacher — said her mom "loves to play with her kids a lot, and I think the kids love her a lot."
Ortega was born in Santa Fe and credited her kindergarten teacher at El Dorado Community School, Lucille Fresquez, with inspiring her to become a teacher. Fresquez loved her job every single day, Ortega said — and so does she.
Reached by phone, Fresquez, who now teaches in the Early Education Department at the Santa Fe Community College, said she was not surprised to hear the news of Ortega's award.
"I can still see her face," Fresquez recalled. "I see a beautiful young kindergartner ready to learn, ready to get along with others and ready to step into the world and make a difference.
"She's an excellent, excellent, excellent teacher. She is such a role model for teachers."
Ortega — who managed to keep the tears in check as she returned to the gym to help oversee the promotion ceremony, said of her students: "I just love these little minds to expand."
As for the way in which she was deceived to make the award ceremony a surprise, Ortega took it all in stride.
"I don't do well with surprises," she said. "But this was a good one."
