TRIUNFADORA: Hearing Her Calling

— -- In a classroom at Cienega Elementary School, in a rough part of Los Angeles, 19 eager little faces peer up at Esmeralda Gutiérrez-Saldaña as she teaches them about animals found in Africa. Her energy and enthusiasm seem as boundless as the vast African savannah and she slaps high fives and exclaims, "Great job!" when kids answer tough questions correctly. But when a little girl with a speech problem has trouble saying "giraffe," Esmeralda becomes intensely serious. She patiently pauses and leans closer to the girl while touching her own lips and slowly repeats the word in an exaggerated fashion. "That's very good, Rosa," she says to the girl.

While most teachers have to rely on special training to try to understand what it is like for a child with a disability to make it in school, Esmeralda relies on her personal experience. She was such a child. Growing up, she struggled through schools in the same neighborhood with a severe hearing disability. Through a remarkable combination of determination and drive, Esmeralda, who is just 22, has overcome her disability and returned to the neighborhood where she grew up to inspire a new generation of children to achieve greatness.

As early as second grade, Esmeralda knew something was wrong with her, she just didn't know what it was. She couldn't distinguish certain sounds, especially double consonants, such as "bl", "pl" and "gr", and sounds such as "th", "sh", "ch" and "wh", and this led to her not being able to speak correctly. Other children laughed at her mistakes. If someone asked her if she wanted a piece of pie she answered by telling them what time it was.

Her parents and teachers blamed it on the fact that she was learning English and also said she wasn't paying close enough attention in school. But she knew she was trying her hardest. She just couldn't hear well. To avoid being scolded, she started choosing a seat in class that provided a direct view of the teacher so she could read their lips. Instead of trying to determine if something was wrong with her, teachers simply shuffled her off to a special room with other kids who couldn't read and write and were believed to be slow learners.