9 Latinas Honored for Leadership

The consul general of Honduras was the featured guest, but it was nine local women, all mothers of students at Valerio Street Elementary School, who received the honors Wednesday at a small and festive graduation ceremony on the Van Nuys campus.

The women were graduating from the Latinas Leadership Program, a 10-week seminar offered through the school’s Parent Center. The course, which included parenting tips, information about drug and alcohol abuse and even nutritional information, was designed to promote healthier and more fulfilling lifestyles for Latina women and their families.

The course is free, but the women understand that they have an obligation to share what they have learned with others, said Esther Arias McDowell, project director for the Van Nuys-based California Women’s Commission on Alcohol and Drug Dependencies, which offers the program.

Ana Ruth Zuniga, the consul general of Honduras, who as an educator worked to develop similar programs in her country, offered congratulations and some words of inspiration Wednesday.

“The work you are doing to help better your families is the most important work you can do,” Zuniga said.

The lessons she learned in the leadership program are already paying off for Veronica Cortes, who said her children, two of whom attend Valerio, are doing better in school now that she has learned how to help them.

“Before I didn’t know how to get involved. Now I feel like I now how to discipline my kids and also how to reward them. I feel like this course has made me a better mother,” Cortes said.

“All these women here,” she said, “they are really involved in this program. It’s changed their lives.”

In addition to Cortes, Wednesday’s graduates included Socorro Arroyo, Natividad Duran, Maria Elena Escobedo, Irma Gonzalez, Ana Maria Huezo, Graciela Mendoza, Lucia Paredes and Victoria Sanchez.