Our people: Love of teaching

Aug. 5—Laura Sigala Mondragon was just fine with her civilian job at Cannon Air Force Base, but a friend kept urging Mondragon to take a job teaching. These days Mondragon teaches Spanish at Clovis High School.

The News caught up with Mondragon a few days ago to learn of her life.

Q: What's the story of you and Clovis, New Mexico?

A: I moved here when I was 15. I was born and raised in Levelland, Texas. I don't even know why we moved to Clovis. But we have family here. I would've preferred to move to Lubbock but we didn't and here we are.

Q: Tell us about your family.

A: My parents live here, that's what keeps me here. My brother and his family are here, so this is home.

I have one husband, he's from Clovis too, his name is Patrick. He's retired from the Air force, 20 years. He spent his Air Force years away from Clovis. He came back when his dad died. We met here after his dad passed away. He had to go back to Iraq so we wrote letters back and forth, it's a long love story. We actually had to buy paper and write. We didn't have FaceTime or anything. We got to know each other through email and letters.

It wasn't until he got back from Iraq that we actually started dating. We still have boxes full of our corny letters that we wrote back and forth.

We have children: Minerva, "Minnie," 9, and Mateo who just turned 4.

Q: What's the story of your higher education?

A: I started out at Clovis Community College in 2007, where I got my associate's degree in business administration. I transferred to Wayland Baptist University when they were here in Clovis, and I got my bachelor of science degree in business administration.

Then I got my master's from Wayland in management with a specialization in human resources. Then I got my masters in secondary education, also from Wayland.

Q: Why did you choose to be a teacher?

A: I was working out on base, and I had a friend who would call me and suggest I should become a teacher.

"I don't want to do that," I said to my friend.

"You get summers off," my friend said, and I said, "Nah I"m good."

You see, it took forever to get in with the Department of Defense. That was hard. Not everybody gets to work on base.

My friend kept emailing me.

"We're having a job fair. Why don't you come," my friend wrote.

So I went to this job fair and I got hired on the spot.

And I thought, "What did I just do?"

That was in 2017.

I went to go teach and I loved it.

Q: What was your interest in teaching Spanish?

A: Spanish is my first language, I had to learn English. It took me up to third grade to learn English.

My parents came to Texas from Chihuahua state in Mexico.

In elementary school a teacher called me "stupid" but told me what I needed to do to improve myself.

I learned English by reading newspapers, reading books, watching PBS. I watch PBS to this day because it's educational and I need to keep educating myself.

When I studied business, I learned the importance of knowing a second language.

Is English hard? I think so. Every language has conjugations and tenses that we need to learn or memorize.

Q: You still travel to Mexico regularly?

A: I travel to northern Chihuahua once a year. We used to visit three times a year.

We'd go at spring break, summer vacation. Sometimes we'd stay all summer. I loved it. Those were the best times of my life.

Of course you're a kid. But it was just a whole different world. No cares in the world. The crime wasn't like it is now. There were cows, sheep. The friendships, the culture, the food. It's hard to believe its only a 13-hour drive and you're in a whole different world.

Q: You've started a Ballet Folklorico group at the high school?

A: "Ballet Folklorico" is a collective term for traditional Mexican folk dancing, different dances from different regions in Mexico. The dances express life and happiness. It reflects the traditions, cultures and beliefs of people.

As we obtain more dresses, we make sure we respect the traditions of that area.

If we get dresses from Jalisco, we honor the culture of Jalisco.

I want to do it because I want to preserve the tradition of the culture. We're losing the language, we're losing the culture and the traditions.

The kids that are in it enjoy it and love it. I've been trying to let everyone know that we exist and we want to perform. The students want to perform. I invite interested people to contact me about performances.

Q: Do you have a favorite saying?

A: Not really.

I want to say, though, I love learning. Every time my curiosity is up I want to learn about whatever it is. I'll look it up or get a book.

I have a never-ending love for learning.