Maria Julia
She did not plan to be a teacher, she was more inclined towards medical sciences, but her History teacher Héctor Rodríguez, whom she thanks for everything she is today, made her his class monitor and later inoculated her with that passion that lasts until today.
As she says: “she was injected with the teaching bug”, from which she has never been able to cure herself.
Already on that path, Fidel called on young people in the 70s to train as teachers and support secondary education. There she went with her 18 years full of will and inexperience, and the welcome and guidance of the head of the chair and the director of the school, Álvaro Morell, shaped her way of teaching. With the insistence that the educator, above all, must be an example.
She carried out other tasks within the UJC, as a director, deputy director of schools… But she always returned to class, because with all her passion she assures that she was not far from the blackboard and even today, celebrating her golden anniversary with teaching, she continues there, eager to show us how much road we have ahead in the field of History.
A mission to be proud of
In junior high, Inés Luaces was assigned as the teacher who would attend to a special student. That was her hands and ears, until the young man grew intellectually and facing all kinds of challenges, he became our colleague, the journalist Jorge Enrique Jerez Belisario: Jorgito.
María Julia feels really proud to see him today as a professional in the written press, respected by all. He in turn thanks the teacher, who is like her second mother, the grandmother of her girl’s heart and an important part of that family that overcame all kinds of obstacles.
Good teachers are not forgotten
That’s what a former student, doctor and provincial head of the pulmonology service told her, who already has gray hair and recognized her at the moment, although the circumstances of the reunion were not pleasant, since they were saying goodbye to a friend.
The doctor did not let the reunion pass, he waited for her when she left and asked her: are you María Julia, the history teacher?
She made a quick return in her memory and her face took her to the first classrooms in which she worked, when she was also studying for her degree. Surprised, she inquired: how can you remember me, boy; and the doctor insisted with her argument, because there really are teachers that we never forget.
He agrees, because she never forgets her mentor Héctor, who led her down that path and never managed to get rid of the “teacher’s bug.”
Unforgettable Passages
After so many years teaching History, María Julia insists on the importance of deepening and presenting the contents more in facts and figures of local history. For her, there is a fight about which little is said and that preceded the one that led to the fall in combat of Ignacio Agramonte.
This historical passage is related to the battle in the Cocal del Olimpo, near the Potrero de Jimaguayú. There Agramonte’s cavalry had defeated and caused many casualties to the Spanish army.
The Mayor returned to Jimaguayú after his victories at Molina (May 7th, 1873) and Cocal del Olimpo (May 7th, 1873), being received with great enthusiasm by the troops camped there. Reasons that led the enemy to organize another confrontation, that of May 11th, where El Mayor lost his life.
The farewell
After a pleasant afternoon, I received a class on the three Marias for History. For them, teaching was their best choice, since only the youngest continues in front of the classroom, but the other two at home, in the neighborhood and even by phone, continue to form values -those that make us love Our Homeland and never forget where our roots sprouted.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
