Sister Maria Elena, Nurturing Others Through Education
In Colombia, Rita Maria Arias and some of her youthful
friends noticed that the German missionary priest
worked among the poorest of the poor. They felt the pull to do the same. After
talking to the Salvatorian priest, they knew they were called to religious life.
From Bogotá to Milwaukee, God’s call involved leaving family, friends and all
these Colombian girls knew and held dear.
Years later, as Sister Maria Elena Arias, SDS, she would consider how God had called and moved through her life and would feel blessed. “There were times as novices in the United States, we would feel so homesick here. After dinner we would sit together under an apple tree and cry. Then we would feel better, go back and keep trying,” she said.
One of her first ministry assignments was the Tekakwitha Orphanage in South Dakota. “It was my first love. All of us who were sent there had begged to go and work with the children. We were teachers, mothers and nurses. We had the Papoose House for children two to five years and then an elementary school with thirty students in each room. We were working around the clock and cherished every minute. I had always wanted to do this type of work since I was a child,” Sister Marie Elena said.
Later she taught in Catholic elementary schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota. While attending classes at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of her teachers told her of the great need for bilingual teachers in the public school system. When she went to the central office, she was hired on the spot. She was at the time a rare find, a bilingual teacher of the Hispanic culture.. She was on the charter faculty at Vieau School, the first bilingual elementary school when it opened in 1969.
Sister Marie Elena would be Miss Arias for the next three decades and impact a system through policies that affected thousands of students. Over time, she taught reading and social studies at different grade levels, initiating policies and methods. She returned to Marquette and earned a Master’s equivalent in bilingual reading and resources and became coordinator of the bilingual programs at Vieau School.
“I set high standards for my students and for myself. I achieved what I hoped I would. I have seen many of the students succeed. Some of them became teachers and principals. In my later years, they would return as parents. I felt fulfilled,” she explained.
Today she continues to volunteer four days each week at two schools. She is a
born teacher and Salvatorian who believes that the students
first need to feel affirmed,
then
taught. She set the standards high and together they reached their goals. One of
her former educational assistants is now a school
principal. It doesn’t get better than that. “I have
been blessed,” she says, and we know that we have also been blessed because
of her presence among us.
Text: Kathie Daily