Whenever there is a student or family in need in RE-1 Valley School District you can count on Cindy Reyes, family community advocate, to be there to provide assistance and ensure a good outcome.
"Cindy gives 110% daily to our students and our community. She is often called after hours, early mornings, on weekends and during vacation times, and is always ready and willing to help. She is often the voice for our Spanish-speaking families and strives to create a friendly and workable relationship between school and home. Cindy is invaluable as a community advocate with her unlimited community contacts and willingness to seek out what is needed and securing those solutions for her families," said one of her Crystal Apple Award nominators, Lori Thompson.
Another of Reyes' award nominators, Laura Clark, believes that Cindy Reyes' name and picture should be shown as the definition of going above and beyond.
"When a student needs shoes, a high school student needs clothes, a student isn't coming to school, or a student needs someone on their side, Cindy can be found there. If the district needs school supplies, Cindy will work with local retail stores to ensure there are school supplies. When the lights turn off at night, Cindy can still be found answering calls and texts, on Zoom meetings, or in in-person meetings. When she lays her head down at night, she doesn't sleep, she wonders how she can help more students, how she can do a better job at providing what students need," Clark said.
Reyes is in her seventh year as a family community advocate. She also worked in RE-1 previously in a different position and at Iliff Head Start, for a total of 26 years helping students and families.
"I've always cared about students and families. I knew that this position was open and I knew that it was working with a lot of students and a lot of families," she said. "I like to help people."
In her position Reyes works with homeless students, something she has a passion for, as well as many of the district's Spanish-speaking families, students who aren't attending school and any student in the district who needs help, be it with transportation, they can't get in to the doctor, they don't have enough food, etc.
Married with three adult children and two grandkids, she believes one of the most important things she has instilled in them is to always be compassionate, to care about others and help when you can. It's something she's taken to heart in her job, truly believing that "to make a difference in someone's life you don't have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful or perfect. You just have to care."
It's a job that can be stressful, such as the one week when she worked to assist two families that suffered a fire. But, even though the hours are a lot, enough that her position used to be filled by two people and probably could still be because there are so many things families and students are going through, she enjoys that every day is different and that she gets to work throughout the district at all six schools.
"What makes me want to keep doing it is those days like when you work with a homeless student and you get them to graduate and that is pretty awesome, or when you have an elementary student that is needing clothing or different things like that – doesn't have much – and you take him or her things and you see this bright smile that will just look at you and say 'thank you' and 'I want to be like you when I group up.' Those are well worth doing and helping parents become self-sufficient and work through the process of connecting with the school, connecting with community resources," Reyes said.
As a result of her work, she serves on a lot of different committees and because she's lived in Sterling since she was two and raised her three children here, she knows the community really well and she knows where to turn when families need help.
"I reach out to the community a lot or I'm very fortunate that I can reach out to my kids and thank God they're in the positions to say, 'Okay mom, what do you need,' and I reach out to friends sometimes," Reyes said, adding that because resources in this community are slim she will reach out as far as Greeley, wherever she can to find help for families.
She hopes that by helping the students and their families now, later on, they can become self-sufficient and become advocates for themselves, "because if they don't do that nobody can do it for them all the rest of their lives," Reyes said. She also hopes to help them realize that education is really important and to make them feel comfortable by serving as the connection between school and families.
Along with doing whatever she can to assist students and families, it has been said that there isn't a party unless Cindy has planned it, as she goes over the top to show everyone they are appreciated, that they are loved. Her colleagues truly feel blessed to have her in RE-1.
"Her dedication and willingness to help wherever and whenever has made her an invaluable employee. Cindy strives to create strong and trustful relationships in each of the school buildings to further advocate for our students and their families. I know if we have a student or family in need, Cindy is one of our first calls to ensure success for all," Thompson said.
In her nomination, Clark noted that Miriam Webster Dictionary defines a hero as a person admired for achievements and noble qualities and a person that shows great courage. For her, that's Reyes.
"Cindy is not afraid to fight for what she believes, she isn't afraid to fight for the underdog, she isn't afraid to be a hero. Cindy has been the unsung hero many times in her career, going above and beyond to help secure funds for food for families, to helping a family secure funding for a vehicle, to being a lending ear for co-workers and to being the last one to leave the office. Cindy embodies the true definition of a Crystal Apple Award winner," Clark said.
A humble Reyes considers herself blessed to be doing what she does and is quick to point out that while she is grateful for the award, she feels there are many other people who deserve it more.
"There's a lot of people that do a lot," she said.
For her, the true reward of her job is seeing the students she's helped and their families later on. For example, a mother she recently ran into in town thanked her for helping her son so much, telling her he is now in the military and showing her a photograph. And because she has worked in education for so long, now she is seeing and helping the children of those she had as students at Iliff Head Start.
"That's kind of cool. There's a lot of good parts to my job; being able to help people, that's the main thing," Reyes said.
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