Barbara Fasken Elementary celebrated its 20-year anniversary this week with a special luncheon for the original teachers and staff who opened the campus.

“We want to honor them. There are about 20 teachers and staff who opened the campus. It takes commitment and dedication toward our students and education,” said Fasken Principal Liliana Barragan. “I know they love serving their students and coming to school every day. I am very proud of them and we want to honor them that they stayed 20 years at this campus.”

 

The school’s first principal, Elouisa Diaz, was a special honored guest at the luncheon which kicked off with a special performance by the award-winning Roberto Ramirez Middle School Mariachi Cascabel.

 

“It’s always wonderful to come back to Fasken. There are just a flood of memories, and it’s just really emotional. Out of my 42 years as an educator, this was definitely the best of my experiences,” Diaz said. “It was the faculty, it was the children, everybody and the way this school came together.”

 

It was a big success the very first year it opened. “We had one of the highest scores in the district, and I recall the superintendent talking to me and asking me how could you do that in your first year, but we all came together like a big family,” Diaz said. “It was a very successful first year, and good years went by and everybody was trying their best and that made it such a great experience for me.”

 

Diaz reminded the students who attended the luncheon about their school’s roots - from how 95 percent of incoming students voted for their mascot the Dragons to the school’s name.

 

Named after an extraordinary trailblazer, philanthropist, and a Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) pilot during World War II, Barbara Fasken Elementary has consistently demonstrated academic excellence and a sense of community. It is an A-rated campus with six distinctions. Fasken was also a highly successful businesswoman who continued to fly into her late 70s.

 

Diaz also told students that the school’s security guard, Mr. Julio Mendez, helped add to the school’s motto, “Believe, Achieve and Succeed.”

 

“Believe, Achieve and Succeed is a very common motto and a lot of schools and businesses have that motto. We wanted to be different,” Diaz said. “Mr. Mendez, the security guard who also opened the school, said, ‘Dragons have fire inside. Don’t you think we should add, ‘Ignite the Fire Within’?”

 

Teachers who attended the luncheon were touched by the event.

 

Anna Flores, second-grade teacher, recalled Diaz and the years since the campus originally opened.

 

“I felt she saw my talent and saw potential in me that I didn’t even know I had. She always said I had this rapport with kids that I had never seen. And she said not very many teachers have that, and I will never forget that,” Flores said. “It’s been amazing to be here for 20 years. Every year, it’s different with your students, you learn something new with every teacher. As a community, we’ve gotten closer. We want to make everything about the students, and Mrs. Barragan has done well and she’s always thanking us, the teachers. There has just been so much growth with all the administrations and you just appreciate it.”

Laura Canales, the school’s counselor who opened the campus and is retiring this year, said a lot of teachers who opened the school have stayed.

“We don’t want to leave. We come here, and we want to stay because we have an excellent community here at Fasken. There is a sense of belonging. The teachers are family. We stay, we don’t leave. I am very blessed to have been here at Fasken for 20 years,” she said.

The school's original principal, Elouisa Diaz, hugs a teacher who opened the campus with her 20 years ago.