Former educator still cares for students

When longtime Clovis educator Sara Mitchell writes a former student she tries to persuade his thoughts away from his current situation. Her letters are positive and light. They focus on subjects that include books they’ve read, politics and positive reinforcement.

She tries to refrain from beginning her letters with “How are things with you?”

For Mitchell, who spent 30 years as an administrator and teacher in Clovis schools, it’s pretty obvious how things are for a young man serving a lifetime prison sentence.

But that hasn’t stopped the former principal of Clovis Alternative School from sending books and corresponding once a month with her former student, whom she declined to name. She said he was convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in prison in 1999, the year after she retired.

“I’m always haunted by the fact that I wonder what I could have done differently to put him on another track,” the 60-year-old Albuquerque resident said. “I think you stay connected with students in ways they never know. In a way it’s a success story that he feels comfortable enough to correspond to me as a teacher — he still calls me Dr. Mitchell.”

Mitchell is one of five Eastern New Mexico University graduates who will be honored on Saturday during the school’s homecoming weekend.

Mitchell, who describes herself as blessed to have a passion for teaching, will receive an Outstanding Alumni Award during the 29th annual Friends of Eastern Foundation Breakfast on Saturday at Eastern’s Campus Union Ballroom.

Clovis schools Assistant Superintendent Jim McDaniel, who often worked with Mitchell, described her as a humanitarian who had a passion for her job.

“She’d go the extra mile to help kids, even kids who had made more than one mistake. She looked for ways to help them when other people had given up on them — but not her. She’d never give up on a kid,” McDaniel said.

Mitchell described Clovis schools as a wonderful place to teach, even after the assistant principal at Clovis High School confused her for a student her first day on the job in 1966.

The former French teacher said the assistant principal tried to send her to the end of the lunch line — teachers were allowed to the front — and she was shocked because she thought she looked so mature.

“I told him I was the French teacher and my name and he let me to the front of the line,” Mitchell said. “But I’ll never forget that first day.”

Mitchell graduated from Eastern in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in French and English and returned to campus to earn her master’s degree in education administration in 1981. In her 30 years at Clovis schools, she held a variety of positions including but not limited to teacher, principal and strategic planning coordinator of staff development. As an instructor at Clovis Community College, she was responsible for implementing the first campus television course for the English department. She earned her doctorate degree in education in 1996 from the University of New Mexico.

But with all of her accomplishments and titles, it’s hard to get Mitchell to talk about anything but her students and family.

She said it’s wonderful to see the youngsters she taught mature into doctors, lawyers and restaurant owners. For those, she knows she’s done her job as their educational mentor.

For the former student now serving a life sentence, Mitchell said her job isn’t over. After all, as McDaniel put it, she doesn’t give up on her kids.

“It’s easy always to pat yourself on the back for all the success, the doctors, the lawyers and the professional people, but I think we have to take full responsibility for some of those who have chosen another direction,” she said. “I’m grateful for all of the students I’ve had.”

Honorees

Eastern New Mexico University will present its Outstanding Alumni Awards at the 29th Annual Friends of Eastern Foundation Breakfast during Saturday homecoming activities in the Campus Union Ballroom.

The honorees are:

• Dr. John D. Kiker: A urologist, he’s also formed Abundant Life for All Ministries in Yelahanka, India, and has been involved in the organization’s orphanage, trade school and Christian training center.

• Sara Mitchell: She’s a longtime teacher and now an educational consultant. She was the Clovis Educator of the Year in 1985.

• Albert E. (Al) Whitehead: A former football player and student-body president at ENMU, he has founded and co-founded several oil companies and is currently chairman and C.E.O. of Empire Petroleum Corporation in Tulsa, Okla.

• Earlene Price: A longtime educator, she is now president of the board and interim director of the Navajo United Methodist Center in Farmington, a transitional living facility for survivors of domestic violence.

• Kim Sanchez Rael: She is a member of the New Mexico State Board of Finance and a director of the Albuquerque Public Schools Foundation. In 2002 and 2003, Rael was named one of the state's top 40 “Power Brokers” by New Mexico Business Weekly.

Source: ENMU