Behind Closed Doors: The Life Of Mrs.Vieira

By: Olivia Gonzalez

Mrs. Vieira shares her life story from her past to present.

Beloved teachers are all around the Redwood campus, new and old. The joy that they bring surfaces but much more goes on under the surface.

What goes on behind closed doors and how they get to where they are at is the question that most students are left with. Listening closer to the life of English 2 Honors and Ap Literature teacher, Mrs. Vieira, as she tells her story.

Growing up in a small town comes with struggles as there are not many opportunities to experience things as much as someone in a more metropolitan area. Vieira grew up in a small town across the country in Pennsylvania. She says, “Pennsylvania has good elements to it. It has seasons and colors and rain all year. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are great cities in Pennsylvania but where I grew up in particular was a small town. So it was a big deal when we got a Walmart.”

With those little to no chances of getting to experience everyday things such as stores, societal normal activities for children growing up, and much more life was different. “I hated growing up in that small of a town. I graduated in a class of 200 kids,” says Vieira.

At an early age, Vieira began working to gain experience and learn more about the real world. “I started working when I was 14 where my mom was a waitress. I was a banquet server at an Italian civics club so that was fun. I worked at a local pizza shop, Pizza Villa, which was awesome, then I worked for a grocery store, Giant Eagle, which is probably the number one job that motivated me to go on my track of going to college.” says Vieira. 

She says,  “I would look around and see that it was a job that someone would go to every day. For some people that’s fine, but I knew that it couldn’t be my life. That is the number one reason I think teenagers should get a job so they can appreciate going to a trade school and having a specialized skill.” Her working experience sealed the deal for her determination to attend college even more. 

With the assumption of smooth sailing through childhood and high school, there are underlying obstacles that appeared in Vieira’s life. At a very young age, her household split due to the divorce of her parents. “My parents were divorced when I was two so it was always a challenge. My parents, I have great relationships now as an adult, but they didn’t always know how to navigate an adult relationship outside of being married without involving their kids. So it was hard for me and my sister because we always felt like our parents were making us choose. When my sister went to college I was just entering high school. She had already graduated so I had to navigate through all of that as a young teenager on my own.”

She says, “I was always really good at school, I got straight A’s, graduated with a 4.0, and was 12th in my class because I knew that if I didn’t want to live the same life as my mom I had to be educated. My mom never really had a career but she worked the whole time. We always struggled with money and that was difficult because all of my friends didn’t. So I kind of had to pretend that I also wasn’t struggling with money.”

With so many life changes, looking back at your past could truly show who and what helped you along the journey. Vieira, living in a household that struggled at times and living alone at home with her sister at college, turned to high school friends for comfort. With times and challenges that had to be overcome, Vieira surrounded herself with those exact friends.

She says, “ I don’t talk to any of my high school friends anymore, but I will say that my high school friends probably saved me because they came from really positive and supportive environments. Because of the company that I kept, I feel kept me in a certain realm. When the coolest thing you have is Walmart, lots of kids fall into the wrong paths. My friends probably helped me not fall into those kinds of circles where kids were not focused on their school work and doing other things.”

Growing up and becoming an adult allows for the chance to revisit what happened during the adolescent years. “When you become a parent you forgive your parents’ missteps because you see what they experienced. I thank all the time that I have the best husband ever because being a mom and a full-time teacher, I couldn’t do it to the capacity that I do and with the joy that I do if I didn’t have a solid partner to share the difficulties of life with,” says Vieira.

Events that occurred during Vieira’s childhood are a part of her life and influenced who she is today. Past experiences lead to better ones in the present.

So with that eagerness to move on to bigger and better things, college was just up ahead. The city and constant feel of things had Vieira ultimately deciding to attend the University of Pittsburgh. She says, “Pittsburgh is a great city. It is one where if people are planning to go to PA they go there. Because I grew up in such a small town I wanted to go to college in a big city. Pittsburgh was always my choice because I just loved it there. The vibe of the city and since the school is a section of the city it was a fun experience.”

Going into college Vieira began her path as a political science major and had thoughts of eventually attending law school. One class into her major, she immediately knew that it was not the path she would be heading down. 

Vieira ended up falling in love with working with kids after working closely at a program named Jumpstart. She says, “I worked with intercity preschools so we worked with socioeconomically disadvantaged kids. The preschools in those communities where maybe parents aren’t home all the time don’t have a language-rich environment so we played with and read with those kids. I enjoyed doing that and I wanted to be an elementary school teacher because I wanted to work with younger kids. I then talked to my counselor and he said I either needed to repeat my freshman year because it’s a four-year program or I would have to transfer. I was not going to do either of those things so the other option was to pick a subject I liked and teach high school. I had taken Russian Fairy Tales, which is the English class I took and I liked it. I was like, ‘I can do it’.”

Life takes everyone in their direction in many different ways. So when in her early 20s one might wonder how Vieira ended up in the Central Valley. While working and getting her bachelor’s and master done at the University of Pittsburgh she also worked to get her teaching credentials. While completing her teaching credentials Vieira befriended a Golden West alumni. 

She says, “[Her friend] was then moving home and invited me to go with her. So I flew out here and got hired at a job fair at Redwood. My friend’s mom taught in the district so she was well-connected with people and I was able to use some of her connections to talk to the right people. I was always planning to go to the job fair but they kind of already knew that I was going there. I was there for 20 mins, I went and interviewed for Redwood, and the principal at the time offered me a job right then and there. I signed a letter of intent and I guess I was moving to California.”

One may think that moving across the country is a hard move especially leaving friends, family, and a familiar life behind. For Vieira moving away became a positive and new chapter in her life.

“Being away from home was positive. I knew I wasn’t going to stay in Pennsylvania anyway because I hated the cold and the snow. I was over it,” she says. 

She explains, “Teaching jobs weren’t easy to come by in my part of the world. You get hired for a job at the start of your career, you take it, and you can always go home. So I was ready to try something new and live somewhere new. I missed my friends and my sister but I was fine. My dad eventually moved out here so he lives out here and we are super thankful that he does.”

Teaching high school students is different from what Vieira previously did, which was working with younger kids. Although there are differences, all types of kids can teach a teacher things and vice versa. 

The love for her job shines in and out. Vieira’s dedication and love sent toward her students is a force that is felt in every class that she teaches. With the extreme amount of love shown, students try their best to return that same feeling. Vieira says, “Kids are like joy, most adults that get into education get into education because students are funny. Mr.Vieira and I will go home and debrief about the day. Kids keep you honest and reflective and young in some ways. I don’t take life too seriously but hopefully, some of my skills and habits will lead students to a more successful career.”

Vieira explains, “I have become more patient, especially being a mom you become more patient but teenagers are different in terms of pop culture. Teenagers struggle with all the same things that I struggled with when I was in high school. You change but you also stay the same. You have to be patient but also as a teacher you have to love them because some kids and the teachers that they have are the only adults that they trust. So I think the most important thing about being a teacher is loving your kids first and then teaching them whatever is next second. I remember the teachers that were there for me and that cared for me.”

For the past years, Vieira has strictly only been an English teacher. But just this last year she took on the role of CSF advisor. Taking on an additional role comes with surprises and new experiences. Life never stops expanding. She says, “I do like being the CSF advisor when you do something outside of just teaching you get to build relationships with kids in a different way. I’m also super organized and for some reason, I enjoy doing tedious tasks so it’s just allowed me to do some different stuff while I’m here.”

Aside from school hobbies, a lot goes on outside of the Redwood gates. Activities done in one’s free time could paint a picture of who they are. Vieira loves to do yoga, read books whenever given the chance and loves to hang out with her husband Mr. Vieira. 

Not only do Mr. and Mrs. Vieira love to hang out but they love to travel the world. Before covid hit, the pair used to travel out and around the country just enjoying what the world brought them. Mr. Vieira says, “Paris is just awesome, the art and the culture are very cool. Munich has a very chill vibe. It’s a beautiful part of the world near the mountains of Germany, it’s just gorgeous. It was really fun hanging out.”

Vieira met Mr. Vieira a couple of years ago and got married in 2020 eventually creating a family with one son and a second child on the way. Relationships have a tremendous impact on one another and could potentially be life-changing. In this case, Vieira impacted Mr. Vieira’s. He says, “She kind of saved my life. When I met her I had just gone through a divorce a couple of years before and was in a bad place, she gave me a renewed sense of purpose.”

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