When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I was teaching a dual language second grade with the Santa Fe Public Schools. My students’ families, who came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, were the people who staffed Santa Fe's restaurants, cleaned houses and hotels, and built new buildings. Many of them lost their incomes in March, 2020, and some had to seek aid for the first time. They weren't the only people struggling; between March and December, 2020 the amount of food provided monthly by the Santa  Fe Food Depot increased by 80 percent.

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Even though my students’ families were facing stress and uncertainty, they spent countless hours learning how to connect their children to online classes and helping them with their schoolwork. COVID taught me that these dedicated families were the children’s first and most important teachers.

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This image was a finalist for Site Santa Fe's Silver Linings Postcard Project. It was displayed on the museum's west-facing exterior wall in early 2021.