Calexico Unified teacher receives California Adviser of the Year award from MESA

Mario Magallanes, a science teacher in the Calexico Unified School District, has been named the 2010 Mary Perry-Smith High School Adviser of the Year for the California chapter of the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement program.

Magallanes, who recently taught at William Moreno Junior High School, was selected out of 120 high schools in California and 25 teachers in the MESA program in the Imperial Valley.

“There are about 30 to 40 MESA Centers in the state and, generally, every center sends in one nominee,” Jeanette Ramos-Espino, Imperial Valley MESA program director, said.

“(Magallanes) is not only a fantastic teacher but a fantastic mentor,” she said. “He came from a very humble background as well so he has that in common with a lot of kids in Calexico; I think a lot of kids identify with him.”

Magallanes was nominated for the award by his former student and advisee, Miguel Leon.

Leon, who will start his sophomore year at Chico State University this fall, said he’s seen Magallanes as more than a MESA adviser.

“He was a great professor and a great friend,” Leon said. “If I had a problem, I always went to him for help. If I needed advice, he was the first one on my list.

“Thanks to him I made the decision to go to Chico State and right now I’m happy with the decision I made because I wouldn’t be where I am now,” he said.

In the nomination letter written by Leon, Leon states that through Magallanes’ emphasis on education Leon was able to gain a higher grade-point average and get out of the gang he was in during his freshman year of high school.

Leon wrote, “Mr. Magallanes taught me that education was the only answer to all my problems, … (It didn’t take me) too long to figure out that he was an angel sent to me by God.”

But despite the recognition by the state Assembly, Magallanes remains humble.

“I don’t think I’m doing something that is special that other teachers are not already doing in their classrooms,” he said. “It’s not only me, it’s the experiences the students have on the MESA field trips. I try to make them think that, ‘It could be you.’