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Speaker 1: When I saw the OTAN web page, I thought of her as a good candidate.

Trudi Sparnicht: She's a person that doesn't give up and she tries in spite of the obstacles that she's gone through and just that really, really optimistic survivor type attitude that she's not going to come down. And she just doesn't think of the negatives. She just keeps her eyes on the goal.

Marisol Maldonado: I came over here when I was 15. I work babysitting the children. After I turned 18, I came to school in the night. But I used to work in the morning, full time work. But I came to the ESL classes in the afternoon. And most of the time I've been like that, working during the day and going to school in the night.

GERRY D'ARCANGELO: She's gifted academically, like English, social studies, and various things like that. And also personality, I think personality has a lot to do with it nowadays in the job market OR an educational environment like this because nowadays you need personality plus good skills.

Carol Fregeolle: She started off basically going to her ESL classes and wanting to do some kind of part time work because she was doing cosmetology for a while, and that's very demanding. That's a hard career also. And she had a child, she had her son. And she came to the Voice program and applied. And you either-- you're going to be there and you love it, or you'll be there for a little while and you'll leave. And she loved it.

Delia Morales: When I would see Marisol as a student, she was always happy working with the clients and just smiling. And you can't ignore someone like that. She's just so positive and just so giving.

Marisol Maldonado: I knew that I could do more. That's why I came back because I wanted to be a teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher. But I came to the correct place, at the correct time. And then I work for a lot of years in a program for those with disabilities. But at the same time, I was going to college in the night. So it was a challenging for me, but everything is possible.

Carol Fregeolle: And she just was patient and loving, but firm. And I just saw potential. I said this person would be wonderful as an adult ed a teacher for adults with disability because that's a hard group of people to work with. And you have to have the patience, the love, and the understanding with them and still be firm.

Marisol Maldonado: These people are very special people. I love to work with them. They're like very kind, very nice. And I like to challenge myself. I like to do things like more above what I think that I can do. That's why I challenge myself to be an adult with disabilities teacher.

GERRY D'ARCANGELO: She had a desire for many years back to really what she's learned to impart that to other people. And you really have to be a good teacher today, you really have to have a love for people, you want to share with them your knowledge. And that's not always a given nowadays. And plus she not only has that desire, but the gift to do it. Some teachers, sometimes they know their material but don't know the way to communicate it sometimes. And I think she knows how to communicate to people in a very personal way. -

Marisol Maldonado: I love my job. And even if I don't get paid for it I will do it for free because I'm very happy with my students. I love them. I like to challenge them. I want them to be successful. I want them to have a better life and to be respected by other people, especially, because this population is very special. And sometimes we don't respect them. But that's the most important part for me as a teacher.

Christian Maldonado: I like my Mom to get a lot of attention because she work so hard in school and she helps a lot, helps everyone out. And she worked so hard to be where she is right now.

Delia Morales: We are very proud of her. We presented the plaque to her at our high school completion graduation at a board meeting. And I don't know if she gave you a copy of the brochure where she was featured in the back page. And it just makes us very proud that one of our own has become so successful.

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