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Victoria
Vieira
By Barbara J. Euser
In conjunction with the Writer's Center of Marin
"Encore une fois, Victoria," the
teacher said, "One more time."
Her confidence increasing with each repetition,
Victoria recited the lesson in French once again. Her teacher had stayed late to
help her, and even though she was tired of going over the lesson in French again
and again, Victoria knew she was making progress.
It was so difficult trying to take root in a
new culture. Victoria was eleven years old. She and her nine-year-old brother
had just left their native Malaga, Spain and their life with their mother's
mother, their abuela, and had moved to France to live with their grand-mere,
their father's mother. Both of Victoria's parents had been killed fighting
against the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War.
Victoria's abuela had taken care of her since she was 2 years old. Now
her abuela had sent Victoria to be with her grand-mere, who was also Spanish,
but had moved to France in 1939 during the war.
Victoria started school immediately in France,
even though she did not speak the language.
She learned what it meant to sit in a classroom and be confused because
she could only make out a few of the words being spoken. She could not follow
directions because she could not understand them. It was a strange and
humiliating experience for someone who had always been at the top of her class
in Malaga.
Victoria's grand-mere wouldn't let Victoria
become discouraged. Grand-mere knew
that Victoria was intelligent enough to learn a new language and believed the
best way was to be completely immersed in it.
It was a tough way to learn French, but Victoria worked hard at it.
One day Victoria overheard one of her teachers
say to her grand-mere, "Oh, Victoria, she'll go far!" It was an
expression of confidence in her abilities that Victoria never forgot.
Her schoolteachers could see that Victoria was
trying very hard. They gave her extra instruction and assistance so she could
succeed. Repeating the words and
the lessons aloud over and over again, Victoria learned her second language.
Victoria never forgot the important role her
teachers played in helping her first to survive -- and then to thrive -- in a
new country. She hoped that someday she could help others the way her teachers
had helped her.
Once Victoria learned French, she became
happier in her new home town of Angouleme. Victoria lived with her
grand-mere, her two uncles, an aunt, her brother, and her cousin, Juan.
This extended family lived in a very modest house.
Victoria soon made friends and after six months in France, was able to
catch up with her studies and was placed in regular classes with students of her
own age.
When Victoria was seventeen, another foreigner
appeared in her life. His name was Eduardo and he was from California.
He told her about the golden, rounded hills dotted with live oak trees of
Marin County and the shining waters of San Francisco Bay.
He described to her how the fog blows in from the ocean and how the sun
turns red as it drops into the Pacific Ocean. He asked her to marry him and come
live in California. When Victoria was nineteen years old, she married Eduardo and
became an immigrant for the second time in her life.
Her husband's mother was from Mexico and his
father was from Portugal. Viewed from the perspective of Spain and France,
Mexico was an exotic, cultured land, a birthplace of lively music, interesting
foods, and accomplished artists. Victoria
was completely unprepared when she arrived in California in 1958 and discovered
that being identified as a "Mexican" was a negative, pejorative term.
In Spain and in France, Victoria had been
acquainted with all levels of society, from rich to poor. She had not thought of
Spanish people as being all of one group or another. When she arrived in
California, she was shocked to discover that Mexicans as a group were located on
the bottom rung of society. She recognized Mexicans were suffering because they
were immigrants. And Victoria knew what it meant to be an immigrant.
"I saw first-hand the plight of the
Mexican Americans in California, and this experience radicalized me,"
Victoria said. "I decided to become a teacher and work to improve
conditions for Hispanics, especially the poor."
Victoria completed her own education, attending
the University of Puget Sound where she earned her B.A.
She then attended the University of Southern California where she earned
a Master’s degree. Victoria
completed all the class work toward a doctorate, but she was not able to finish
her dissertation. By becoming a
teacher, Victoria believed she would have a voice in the community. By virtue of
her education, she gained a position in the community from which she could be of
help to others.
In 1971, Victoria's husband was posted to
Nuremberg, Germany. Once again,
Victoria found herself in the role of a newcomer and an outsider.
This time, she had specific skills and tools to help her make the
transition. As a qualified teacher,
Victoria applied to teach languages in the Nuremberg American High School.
The Vieiras lived in Nuremberg for seven years, during which Victoria
taught Spanish and French. She and
other faculty developed a program called “The Upward Bound” and took high
school students to southern Germany for workshops in building self-esteem and
human relationships. She developed her skills as an organizer and leader in the
school community.
When she and Edward along with their two
daughters returned to California in 1976, Victoria knew she wanted to continue
working in education. She
specifically wanted to work with Hispanic and other immigrant students. She
learned of an opening as a bilingual counselor at Indian Valley College, which
was one of the two campuses of the College of Marin.
When the College offered Victoria the job, they got more than they had
advertised for. Instead of a
bilingual counselor, they got a trilingual counselor.
Victoria could work with newly arrived students who had grown up speaking
French as a second language, as well as Latinos whose first language was
Spanish. For three years, Victoria worked as a counselor.
During this time, she began to develop programs to assist Latino students
make the transition from high school to college level studies.
Victoria had a talent for program development.
She was promoted to Dean of Arts and Humanities at the Indian Valley Campus of
the College of Marin. In her new
position, she continued to develop new programs at Indian Valley College such as
“English as a Second Language”, “Peer Counseling”, and “Bi-lingual
Teacher Aides”.
Victoria has always been conscious of the
position of women and their multiple roles in the community and at home. While
she was Dean, she organized the State Humanities Conference and the Hispanic
Women's Conference. The Hispanic Women's Association of Marin grew out of the
latter. The Association counsels women regarding academic opportunities and
community services available to them and their families. Victoria encouraged
women to get an education in order to become independent and develop the
capacity to plan for the future.
In 1986, Victoria was promoted to the position
of Provost at the Indian Valley Campus. A
controversy arose concerning the fate of that campus.
This was the time the College of Marin had decided to combine the
administration of both campuses at one location.
Victoria was the only administrator located on the campus at Indian
Valley. A controversy arose
concerning the fate of the Indian Valley campus and Victoria faced one of the
most difficult decisions of her career. The
administration of the College of Marin decided to close the Indian Valley campus
and sell the property. A large
banking corporation had already begun discussions regarding the purchase of
buildings and land. As an employee
of the College of Marin, Victoria could not oppose this decision without
jeopardizing her job. On the other
hand, as Provost of the Indian Valley campus, she believed it was a valuable
educational asset to the community of northern Marin County. She didn't think
the Indian Valley Campus should be closed.
"I've always had a tremendous concern for
the plight of the underprivileged and for the underdog. In a way, I saw IVC this
year in that position." Victoria
said at the time. Using her skills
as a community organizer, Vieira approached various groups in Novato. These
included Mayor Hugh Turner and the Novato City Council, John Eagan, the editor
of the Novato Advance newspaper, many Novato residents and the students and
faculty of the Indian Valley Campus. They all agreed with Vieira. The Indian
Valley Campus provided an important center for higher education in the area.
The community did not want to lose it.
The will of the community prevailed and the campus was not closed.
Victoria summed it up, "Without the help of the community, IVC would
not be here today."
Victoria's fight to save the Indian Valley
Campus took its toll. Her job as
Provost was eliminated by the College of Marin trustees. This signaled a change
of direction for Victoria, leading her toward new challenges. She joined the
faculty of the College of Marin, teaching both French and Spanish classes. She
intensified her focus on increasing community awareness and appreciation of
Latino culture.
Since her earliest childhood days in Malaga,
Spain, Victoria had been fascinated by the Spanish language, music and art. In 1980, Victoria had founded the Hispanic Cultural Center of
Marin. Working with like-minded
women, the Center established an art gallery, literacy group and music program
for children.
In 1985, Victoria founded a Spanish language
newspaper La Voz Hispana. The
purpose was to provide educational and cultural information to Latinos.
It was staffed entirely by volunteers from the Latino community.
The paper was published monthly. Victoria
joined the board of the Vision Latina, another Spanish language
newspaper. Victoria believes that communication in the native language is
extremely important to recent immigrants who have not yet acquired knowledge of
English.
Determined to bring Latino culture to the whole
Marin community in an accessible way, Victoria and Sylvia Perel co-founded the
Latino Film Festival in 1996. This annual event brings a broad selection of Spanish
[and Portuguese?] language films to Marin theaters for a week-long celebration
of cinema. In its fourth year in existence, it has grown considerably.
Victoria used every opportunity to emphasize
the importance of higher education. She developed an outreach program to
complement the Latino Film Festival. She created a day-long program at the
College of Marin for hundreds of Latino high school students from all over Marin
County. The students toured the campus, viewed a film from the festival,
followed by a discussion, and ate lunch in the college cafeteria.
By the end of the day, the students had a much clearer idea of what they
could look forward to if they attended college.
To enable more Latino students to attend
college, Victoria founded the Latino Educational and Cultural Foundation in
2000. The Foundation works to recruit Latino students to local colleges and
helps students remain in school by offering scholarships and mentoring programs
while they attend.
Expanding her work beyond the borders of the
United States, Victoria became involved with Vivamos Mejor, an organization
working in Mexico. Vivamos Mejor,
which means Let’s Live Better, sponsors a preschool like Headstart for local
children, a clinic and several agricultural programs. Working with its founder,
Dr. Baez, Victoria has raised money in Marin County to support the programs and
pay the teachers in Mexico.
Through her own childhood experience, Victoria
learned the important, influential role teachers can play in the lives of their
students. She devoted her own career to teaching others and to developing
programs related to teaching. Victoria encouraged many students to become
teachers. She encouraged teachers to work in the community and assume leadership
roles.
Her work with the College of Marin, Spanish
language newspapers, the associations and foundations she has been associated
with, and the promotion of Latino culture can all be seen in the context of
Victoria's chosen role as an educator par excellence.
Victoria sums it all up, "To be passionate
about teaching, a woman must believe in education as a vehicle to better
herself. Using this vehicle, a teacher can grow and realize her dreams and
motivate others."
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