MARINA HOYLE TOLEDANO Elementary School - Lima Peru
HISTORY
The history of the Marina Hoyle Toledano School (MHT) happens to be the life story of its founder, Mrs. Gloria Marston-Valdivia, who, from a young age, has understood education to be a vehicle of human liberation. Gloria's dream was to finish high school, and then enter the university. But as the seventh of fourteen siblings, Gloria would not receive the support of her family. Her innate resourceful, however, led her to become financially independent of her family through a variety of small enterprises. She worked her way through school, and eventually trained to be a nurse. This was no easy undertaking, given the fact that she married at 16, and had 5 sons to take care of. Education and hard work were the vehicles through which Gloria not only managed to overcome the obstacles of her childhood, but also make true her dream of liberty and progress, for herself, and her community of Valdivieso.
Valdivieso was founded, in fact, by Gloria Marston-Valdivia and her husband, who organized 500 families who, like them, were experiencing difficulties finding affordable housing in the capitol city. The burgeoning community petitioned the municipal government for a low-interest loan to purchase a parcel of land to be distributed among the 500 families in need of housing. After a long, arduous, but successful struggle, the loan was granted, the parcel of land purchased, and the neighborhood of Valdivieso founded.
Moving by her growing social conscience, Gloria finds herself among the founder of Valdivieso's first Catholic parish, the Mother's Club, the first community clinic, and the first "Faith an Joy School" in the district. It was in the context of founding these institutions that Gloria met Marina Hoyle Toledano, who would become a close friend and important community leader.
"Marina Hoyle Toledano" is the name of an educator whose career was exemplary. Her life was a model of service and devotion to the education of young children. Marina, who was born into a family of comfortable means, announced to her parents that she was committed to working as a school teacher in a humble, low-income neighborhood in the capital. She encountered strong opposition from her parents, but in spite of the threats, bribes and consternation, she did not renounce her calling. She secured a position as an elementary school teacher in national school "065" - the only public school in the neighborhood of Valdivieso. With great enthusiasm, Marina began her work with no idea of that she would become so important to the community.
Through her work as a teacher, Marina taught the importance of literacy in a child's live. Her promulgation of literacy was demonstrated through the admirable patience and joy with which she enacted her life's work - while reading with children, playing with them, listening to their stories, and engaging in sincere and reciprocal dialogue. Though Marina was not from Valdivieso, her maternal manner and magnanimity, coupled with her endearing charisma, and unwavering poise, soon made her a pillar of our community.
Regrettably, Marina prematurely passed away in 1986, leaving Valdivieso with the memory of her complete dedication to the education, health, ad joy of the young children of our community.
Gloria Marston and Marina Hoyle founded the first private educational institution in Valdivieso in response to the overcrowding of the district's public school "065". The school opened its doors on the 8th of October, 1984 under the name "Holy Family", and offered several scholarships to students in the community who were ready for an educational alternative. The school was housed on the ground floor of Gloria's residence, and opened with 120 students, twelve teachers and, three assistants. After a successful first year, and now, 23 years later, it is gratifying to see our former students, who are now professionals able to successfully meet the demands of modern life and - most importantly - have started family life with dignity, integrity, and respect. When Marina passed away the school adopted her name as a remembrance.
Education at the Marina Hoyle Toledano School has always been focused on strong family participation. MHT grounds its pedagogical praxis in the interest, lived experience and needs of the child as within his social network. As such, the schools's door open onto the child, his home, and his wider community, so that we meet the students "where they are at" to take them as deep and far in their academic and intellectual growth as they can go. Parents and teachers work in tandem to educate the child, so that the family, the school, and the community are equal partners in the sacred work of educating a child.
MHT's curriculum emphasizes the arts and physical education as healthy vehicles of creativity, imagination, and enthusiasm for learning. We work towards the child's safe and healthy growth in a social context marked by respect for family, peaceful communication, trust, respect, and self-discipline balanced by individual liberty. Parents and school staff share and celebrate the same values, which are then flow back into our community's culture and sense of identity.
To be a teacher at the Marina Hoyle Toledano School is to know that children hold the power to change the world and to assume the honorable commitment and hallowed responsibility to prepare them for that future. Because of this joyful duty, we hold education to be the seed of positive social change and human liberation.