Coral Park High husband-and-wife teaching team inspired thousands of students

In the midst of everything else going on this summer, María and Horacio Sierra retired together from teaching at Miami Coral Park Senior High School.

Their son, also named Horacio Sierra, said his parents have always gone “beyond the call of duty.”

“Thousands of people in the community know them,” he said.

“My mom has been teaching there since 1981 and my dad since 2003. They both were also heavily involved in coaching girls’ softball for 20 years with the Miami Mini-Canes travel ball organization and for 20 years at Tamiami Park.”

Mom María began at Coral Park in 1981 as an intern and “worked her way up to being a substitute teacher, a full-time teacher, World Languages Department Chair, Spanish Honor Society Sponsor, Class of 1992 Sponsor, AP Spanish Literature teacher, Hispanic Heritage Month Director, Florida Foreign Language Association Founding Director, and Florida Language Teachers of Dade County President.

“And who can forget all the lunches she catered, pastelitos she sold, proms she chaperoned, homecoming parade floats she decorated, students she drove home after rehearsal, and countless other examples of her love and dedication to students?” son Horacio said.

He said his father worked for 20 years as an accountant and then switched careers in 2003 to join María at the Westchester high school.

Dad Horacio was varsity softball coach, college adviser, and an ESE Teacher.

“It goes without saying that he improved the lives of thousands of young women through his 20 years as manager and president of the Miami Mini-Canes softball organization and 25 years as a softball coach at Tamiami Park,’’ son Horacio said.

“My dad has always known how to make players excel on the field and model the importance of enjoying time with family and friends who bring out the best in you.”

Neither the pandemic nor retirement have stopped the couple.

On the day of their AP exam, every single one of María’s AP Spanish Literature students received her personalized lunch of pan con lechón, croquetas, pastelitos and a soda.

María and her husband drove to each of the students’ home — with masks on — to deliver the lunches.

“The students were in tears from the generosity, and from not having seen them in months,” son Horacio said. Later, for María’s birthday, June 9, her students organized a retirement celebration caravan.

The couple also has a daughter, Lyan Sierra, and grandchildren Carlos, Nikolas and Isabella. Carlos and Nikolas are already students at Coral Park and Isabella will go there one day too.

“Through teaching, coaching and mentoring, my parents have dedicated their professional lives to ensuring Miami’s youth develop into intelligent, healthy and mature adults,” son Horacio said in tribute.

“Anyone who knows my parents knows that they are reliable, hard-working, and always willing to lend a hand,” he said.

“Their dedication to serving the community, mentoring younger generations, living the American Dream, and leading the Hispanic community is awe-inspiring. Coral Park and Miami are better because of them.”

Orchestra Miami hosts free virtual concert

With the theme “Playing it Safe,” the 38 members of Orchestra Miami will perform live and stream their first “Beethoven on the Beach” concert at 7 p.m. July 26.

“We’re having our rehearsal and performance outdoors, the strings will each have their own stands, everyone will be a minimum of 4 feet apart, anyone not blowing into an instrument will wear a mask and we are building Plexiglas barriers for each wind/brass player,” said Artistic Director Elaine Rinaldi.

Rinaldi will conduct the concert that features “Pastorale,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concert in D Major, Op. 55 with Francisca Mendoza as soloist. The broadcast will be from the North Beach Bandshell operated by The Rhythm Foundation.

“People can tune in to watch directly on Orchestra Miami’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/OrchestraMiami or on the North Beach Bandshell’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/northbeachbandshell,” Rinaldi said.

Free registration is at https://bit.ly/OMBOB or visit www.OrchestraMiami.org and consider helping with a donation.

Register for the virtual Lutzie 43 Road Race

For the past five years, the Lutzie 43 Foundation has hosted the Lutzie 43 Road Race in Marietta, Georgia, hometown of Philip Lutzenkirchen, the Auburn University football player who died as a passenger in a car accident in 2014.

“The race celebrates Philip’s life and the legacy he left,” said Katie Stotts, a foundation spokesperson. The foundation is on a mission to end distracted and impaired driving.

“I am reaching out on behalf of the Lutzie 43 Foundation as we prepare to host our first all-virtual Road Race. Our annual Road Race typically brings together over 1,000 runners and this year we are expecting no less, except instead of running in Marietta, we are asking all runners to run wherever they are across the country.”

Katie Meier, head coach of the University of Miami’s women’s basketball team, and Philip’s aunt, hosts a virtual race in Miami each year. This year, it will be at 8 a.m. Aug. 1 at Sunrise Harbor Park, 25 E. Sunrise Ave., Coral Gables.

“Our annual Road Race helps to raise money for our many initiatives like providing many young drivers with a 43 Seconds Key and helping to fund our PFL (Prepared For Life) Scholarship,” Stotts said.

The all-virtual race will be the weekend of Aug. 1. Runners everywhere can register at https://lutzie43.org/sixth-annual-road-race/

Education Fund is helping families

The Education Fund has always had the mission to enhance public education and now the nonprofit is helping feed needy families.

The Fund’s staff and teachers are harvesting produce every week from 51 edible gardens and food forests in our public elementary schools through a project with Miami-Dade County Public Schools Department of Food and Nutrition, and Empowered Youth USA.

Before the pandemic, these food forests, some of which are an acre in size, provided produce for cafeteria lunches and for students to take home. Now, harvest bags are being distributed to families from Homestead to Miami Gardens.

The group has also retooled programs to supply teachers, students, and their families with materials to make distance learning easier. And it gifted Camillus House with $40,000 in supplies from its Ocean Bank Center for Educational Materials, and organized distribution of $120,000 in materials and 2,000 backpacks full of school supplies.

A special grant program, funded by P.L. Dodge Foundation, will help teachers pay for technology to enhance the remote-learning experience. The organization received 375 grant applications in two hours from local teachers. Visit www.educationfund.org

If you have news for this column, write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com

This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 12:17 PM.