Saavedra teaches 11 first-, second- and third-graders with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities at Noble Elementary in northeast Bakersfield. She’s teaching on a temporary credential while earning two permanent credentials and a master’s degree in special education at CSUB.
Saavedra loves both the innocent, affectionate nature of her students and the camaraderie she sees among special education teachers.
“I really try to imitate that in my classroom,” Saavedra said, “having teamwork, having communication, and just being there for the kids.”
GETTING HER START
Saavedra jumped into special education immediately after high school, working as an instructional aide at Valley Achievement Center while taking general education courses at CSUB. It was her one-on-one work with a 3-year-old boy there that permanently sold Saavedra on a special education career.
The boy was not potty-trained. He could only communicate through pictures. And he threw temper tantrums that sometimes lasted three to four hours.
One year into Saavedra’s work with the boy, he said “car” to his mother for the first time as they were heading home from school. Saavedra burst into tears when she heard about it “because we had been working on this for an entire year.”
A few months after that, the boy started using the toilet. His behavior improved and he learned to use more words.
“Just watching those little steps happen, those little goals being accomplished, drove me to not give up, to keep trying,” she said.
Saavedra entered CSUB’s Child, Adolescent and Family Studies program. As a first-generation student, college was a challenge.
She had no college fund. She didn’t know all the application deadlines. She didn’t have mentors who could help her with her homework.
By joining a sorority, reaching out to counselors and making friends, Saavedra navigated the ways of CSUB – including while pregnant with her first child -- and earned her bachelor’s degree in 2014.
“She had to experience everything on her own,” said Saavedra’s sister, Zithry Vasquez. “I remember her saying, ‘I don’t know how to get this done, I don’t know where to get that done.’ She just really went out there and figured it out.”
At a campus career fair, Saavedra learned about the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, which provides in-home therapy for kids with autism.
In her year at CARD, Saavedra worked with children on fine and gross motor skills, speech and language development and academics.
One of her students also attended Chavez Elementary, and a teacher there who was impressed by her creativity and passion for children encouraged her to get her credential and teach in her own classroom.
“She was so great, and you could tell she loved what she did,” said the teacher, Alyce Nichols. “She encouraged you to do better.”