Voices Stockton parent, Maira Morales, shares her story about why she chose Voices for her daughter Vanessa.
As the child of Mexican immigrants, I grew up speaking Spanish, and honed my English language skills by helping translate for my parents. My husband has a similar background, and we believe that having two languages is a lifelong strength that we want to pass on to our own children. But as a military family, we’ve had to move many times, and our daughter Vanessa was starting to lose her Spanish skills before we returned to Stockton a few years ago.
That’s why I was elated when I saw on Instagram that a dual language public charter school named Voices was opening in Stockton. In fact, I thought it sounded too good to be true. When I met with Voices’ founding principal just before Covid, I learned all about the school and how it would teach students English and Spanish. My husband and I knew it was the right choice for Vanessa.
The fact that Voices is a public charter school made it even more appealing, as I attended a charter school — Able High School — while growing up in Stockton, and my husband also graduated from a charter high school. We both had the same positive charter school experience of small classes and teachers who would go the extra mile to ensure we would learn. Because of this education, we both went on to earn college degrees. We couldn’t wait for Vanessa to become part of Voices’ founding class in Stockton.
Now that Vanessa is a kindergartener at Voices, she is having an amazing experience. She is learning to write and read in both English and Spanish. Even with remote learning, the teachers at Voices have helped make Vanessa and our family feel at home and supported. Vanessa’s teacher saw that she was ahead in math and now sends home extra materials and lessons to personalize the learning and keep her challenged. My son is only three, but we are already planning for him to join his sister at Voices when he starts elementary school.
I am so passionate about Voices that I recently joined a group of founding Voices parents who work together to develop our leadership skills and abilities, as well as meet with local elected officials about the value of public charter schools to the Stockton community. Our kids can’t speak for themselves, so we have to speak up on their behalf, and I am proud to do this for my daughter and other children.
By sending our daughter to a dual language public charter school like Voices, we are opening doors for her to gain the essential skills she needs to succeed. Now that Vanessa is at Voices and gaining the language skills she needs to thrive in a diverse world, her future is brighter than ever.
