The fact that Sixto Vela III never missed a day of school since face-to-face instruction was first offered at Hanna Early College High School caught the attention of Principal Blanca Lambarri.
Lambarri said she had no choice but to present the Principal Award to Vela at this year’s awards ceremony in recognition that Vela had risen above adversity at the height of the pandemic to attend in-person classes from the very first day they were offered in September 2020.
“He is someone who went above and beyond,” Lambarri said Thursday in her office at Hanna. “Sixto is very respectful, he is a hardworking student, and on top of that, I was very impressed with his determination to come back to school despite so much adversity, including the death of his father and grandfather, and for someone at his age to have that resilience to come back when times were difficult. … This kid has been amazing. Never did I think of anyone else.”
Sixto is a junior and was ranked 17th in his class before the pandemic arrived in Brownsville during Spring Break 2020. During the pandemic, Sixto has slipped to 67th but is working hard to move up four places and rejoin the top 10%, his mother Marvelia Vela, a counselor at Hudson Elementary, and sister Victoria, a Hanna graduate last year and freshman at Texas State University, said.
Marvelia said her husband Sixto Vela Jr. passed on Aug. 7, 2020, and her father, Josue Pizana, passed July 4, 2020, both from COVID-19.
“It really was a hard year for us. It’s getting better. We’re trying to find a different sense of normalcy,” she said.
In addition to his studies, Sixto is working out with a personal trainer at Alpha Fitness, and has gotten a job as an usher at Cinemark in Sunrise Mall, he said.
“Everything that you do in life pays off, especially in these difficult times,” Lambarri said. “You become a better person, a stronger person … especially when you talk about these huge losses.”
Sixto said he liked coming to school for in-person learning during the pandemic, and felt like he had the school all to himself.
Victoria said she made the dean’s list at Texas State. Lambarri attributed that and Sixto’s class ranking to them coming from a good family.
“The kids miss school, they miss the cameraderie and the structure,” she said. “Next year is going to be a difficult year.”
