Stopping by: Good day, every day
Wascher Elementary School first-graders showed drawings to their teacher, Mariana Fernandez.
“Great job, Samantha! Good job, Anderson!” she said, complimenting them one by one.
Then she called out “story time!” and her students, whom she’s had in class since early January, gathered on the rug at the front of the room. Before she picked up a book, “Dinorella,” the class talked about fairy tales.
“Fairy tales are make-believe, not real,” one student said.
Another, responding to his teacher’s use of both English and Spanish, added that fairy tales are “mágico.”
After she asked students what the “setting” means, a student explained what they’d learned on a previous day. “Where the story takes place, and when,” she said.
Then Fernandez asked, “Do fairy tales teach us something?” Some students raised their thumbs for yes, others said no. Teacher and class talked about that, and concluded that fairy tales can teach kindness, honesty and other good things.
Finally, the teacher opened “Dinorella” and read the send-up of “Cinderella,” only with dinosaurs in the familiar roles of stepsisters and Dinorella’s suitor at the ball. Students giggled when Fernandez used different voices for the characters, such as Dinorella’s “Fairydactyl” and the evil carnivore that tries to eat the duke.
“And they lived happily ever after,” the teacher read as the story ended. Then she asked her students to line up to go to lunch.
It was another happy day for Fernandez, who started the school year as a teaching assistant and assumed lead teacher role mid-year when Wascher needed an additional classroom teacher.
“A good day is working on writing and reading and learning new things the students are interested in,” she said.
First-graders are interested in so many things, from dinosaurs to mermaids to space, she said. She loves seeing the individuality of each one.
As she says regularly, “today is a good day.”
Fernandez said she is a teacher today because of the example set by her own teachers over the years, along with her own hard work and the support of her family, parents Jimmy and Laura Fernandez, and younger brother, Allan.
“Great scholarships” also helped her become the first in her immediate family to attend college — her brother is the second.
Among her scholarships was one from P.E.O.’s local Chapter FH.
The philanthropic women’s education organization made such a difference in her life, she said, that she became a member herself after graduating from the Linfield University last year. She’s now on the group’s education committee, helping to provide scholarships for other women.
Fernandez moved to McMinnville from Sisters in 2019, when she was a junior in high school. She graduated from Mac High in 2020, when the Covid pandemic led to commencement being split into four drive-by ceremonies.
She figured she would go to Oregon State University to study education and get her teaching license. But a Mac High teacher, who had graduated from Linfield, caused her to look at the local college instead.
Linfield had a good psychology department, the teacher said, and Fernandez was interested in that.
In addition, Linfield was small, which she appreciated.
It also was close to home and to her family’s restaurant, Mezcal Sabores de Mexico — the Fernandez family closed that place in 2024 and now runs Abuela’s Nuestra Cocina on Third Street. Staying close to her family is important to her, she said, and she knew she would be working at the restaurant in addition to studying.
Linfield offered her a good financial aid package and, later, she won the P.E.O. scholarship as well.
“They considered test scores, and I wasn’t sure I could do it,” she said. But she worked hard in high school and was rewarded.
As a freshman at Linfield, Fernandez became involved as an ambassador who called prospective students to tell them about the benefits of the school. She also worked at the front desk of the financial aid office.
“I met a lot of people and had a great relationship with the director,” she said.
Fernandez also worked with children in the Linfield preschool. She loved how enthusiastic the children were, especially toddlers, for whom the world was a new and wondrous place.
“I was so excited when kids were excited to learn, especially when they asked ‘why’ — ‘why does the rain fall? Why is the sky blue?” she said.
Majoring in psychology as well as elementary education, she had a chance to work with a psych professor on a research project. They studied teenage grit, motivational factors and the influence of technology, she said.
“Psychology helped me understand the ‘whys’” for all ages, she said.
She graduated from Linfield summa cum laude in 2024 with two degrees: a bachelor of arts in elementary ed and BS in psychology. She considered graduate school in psychology, but decided to work in education first.
She was late in applying for teaching jobs, though, she said. When she couldn’t find a primary-grade position, she took a job as an educational assistant, instead — a great way to work with children and keep up her skills, she said.
Fernandez was happy to return to Wascher, since she’d done her full-time student teaching at the Lafayette school. She lived in Lafayette, as well.
“I knew I wanted to work for the McMinnville School District,” said Fernandez, who’d also done a part-time teaching experience at Buel Elementary, near Linfield, before graduating.
She loved working with the teachers at Buel Elementary as an assistant in math and other subjects. She also used her bilingual skills.
“The enrollment in Lafayette is 30 to 40% Hispanic,” she said. “I wanted to serve our people. It’s rewarding to know I have that impact.”
But she told Wascher principal Scott Murphy that she still wanted a classroom of her own.
He and other principals in the district recognized her potential. In December, she received the offer of a teaching job in the second grade at Memorial Elementary.
When she talked to her principal at Wascher about leaving, he told her to hang on — he planned to split up a large first-grade class, and wanted her to apply for the new position. She was thrilled to have a chance to stay with her Wascher family, she said.
She found out just before winter break that she had the job. She spent some of the break reaching out to families of the students who would be in her class and fixing up her classroom.
“Sunshine, natural earth tones, lots of plants for a nice, homey feel,” she said. “And a real Betta fish for the kids to take turns feeding as a reward for showing the behavior I’m expecting.”
She was ready when school resumed in January. First order of business: Have the students choose a name for the Betta. “Bluey” was the winning name.
Next, in addition to reading, writing, math and other subjects, she worked with students on positive character traits. Wascher’s school-wide trait in January was perseverance; in February, it was honesty.
Since then, “it’s been go, go, go,” she said. “Lots of information, data, units to cover. Lots of learning. Making sure to maintain expectations and set boundaries.”
She credited the Wascher first-grade team and other teachers at her school, as well as first-grade teachers from across the district, with helping her be successful. “Very, very supportive,” she said.
Fernandez said she thoroughly enjoys her job.
At some point, Fernandez said, she wants to take graduate courses and become a counselor to work with children, combining her loves of education and psychology. “I can’t put that dream away,” she said.
Right now, she still works in her family’s restaurant a couple nights a week, in addition to teaching. Sometimes families of her students come in.
“The kids get so excited!” Fernandez said. “I get excited. I love having my worlds mesh together.”
She continued, “I hope to inspire my students that they can do anything they want, if they work hard and set their mind on it.”
P.E.O. supports women’s education
P.E.O., which promotes women’s education, is one of the reasons new teacher Mariana Fernandez was able to graduate with two degrees from Linfield University.
Then a sophomore, Fernandez was working in her family’s McMinnville restaurant in 2022 when she met a P.E.O. member who told the Fernandez family about potential scholarships from the organization
“The P.E.O. was wonderful. It was nice to see an organization that helps young women in college,” Fernandez said.
She was amazed by P.E.O.’s process for awarding funds, as well. In addition to submitting an application, Fernandez had an in-person interview with the scholarship committee.
“They had tea and biscuits,” she said. “It felt more like a conversation than an interview.”
The local group submitted her application to the state level, which awarded her $4,700. The scholarship made a significant difference in her being able to complete her education, Fernandez said.
“Super, super helpful,” she said.
Fernandez, who lives in Lafayette and teaches first-grade at Wascher Elementary School, is one of 228 students who shared in $448,495 in scholarships and loans from Oregon’s 170 P.E.O. chapters in 2023-24.
The international organization’s 4,500 chapters as a whole have given out more than $435 million to more than 125,000 recipients since 1907.
Founded by seven friends on Jan. 21, 1869, the Philanthropic Educational Organization now has a quarter of a million members in the U.S. and Canada. In Yamhill County, 250 members belong to P.E.O.’s chapters, four of which are in McMinnville and two in Newberg.
They support the organization’s mission statement, P.E.O. — Where Women Motivate, Educate and Celebrate Women.
Like the founders, today’s members are “passionate about improving the lives of women and helping them advance through education, while supporting and motivating them,” according to local P,E.O. representatives.
“As a sisterhood, we understand the importance of supporting each other and promoting and funding P.E.O. projects,” said Kelley Kennedy, president of McMinnville Chapter FH.
FH and other chapters distribute funds raised at events and donated by members.
“We help local women pursue educational goals,” Kelley said, noting that P.E.O. offers funds to students of all ages. The sisterhood also owns Cottey College, a four-year school for women.
Women can apply for a P.E.O. scholarship, grant or loan should go to peointernational.org or peooregon.org.
Starla Pointer, who believes everyone has an interesting story to tell, has been writing the weekly “Stopping By” column since 1996. She’s always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-687-1263 or spointer@newsregister.com.
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