Salemburg Elementary is hosting a first-of-its-kind English as Second Language class, this time for parents, with Assistant Principal Gabriela Blankenship at the helm.
“I am Mexican, I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas,” Blankenship began in a phone interview last week talking about how the idea of an ESL class for parents came about.
“I was military until medically retired, where I then went into education,” she noted.
Blankenship ended up as an educator in Sampson County, where she was surprised to find the large Latino population.
“I had no idea there was such a large Hispanic population in eastern North Carolina,” the assistant principal shared.
During the 2024-25 school year, Blankenship was the instructional coach at Union Intermediate, when she first had the idea of an ESL class for parents. While there, she said, she never had all the components to make it happen.
At the end of that school year, Blankenship was named assistant principal at Salemburg Elementary, and the school leader has been looking for a way to make a parent ESL class a reality at the elementary school since.
Once Principal Alicia Leach came on board at Salemburg Elementary this year, Blankenship explained that she shared her vision for making the class for parents a reality, which helped turn her dream into reality this fall.
Blankenship shared that “togetherness and family is Hispanic culture,” and she couldn’t imagine anything better, or more true to that, than parents and their children both learning English at the same time.
“If parents are learning English, the students will be more engaged at school in wanting to learn English themselves,” the educator shared.
Blankenship added that she thought of her childhood growing up in El Paso and the family members who didn’t know much English, and how she would have loved for them to have an opportunity like this.
“We want to put it out in the community,” Blankenship said of her hopes for how the class can grow.
The class has 12 families enrolled so far, and that number is growing.
The educator shared that this is “even better because we offer childcare, and a meal since it’s around dinner time,” which Mikasa Melvin, Salemburg Elementary’s community schools coordinator, is arranging.
“I have a good relationship with Hispanic families,” Blankenship stressed, highlighting that she is the only Hispanic assistant principal in the district.
The curriculum comes from Sampson Community College and is considered a continuing education course, which could open doors for more continuing education as well, Blankenship emphasized.
“It’s a great opportunity for parents to learn and bond with their students over the material,” stressed Blankenship, full of excitement about what is to come for the class.
When asked what she would say to someone nervous to attend the class, Blankenship urged anyone considering it to come.
“Just try it out!” the educator urged.
She added that many people are afraid right now to attend anything like this, and she stressed that there is no need to fear and that this would be a safe place for everyone in attendance.
“I want this to be successful and grow for all Sampson County,” Blankenship concluded.
“I’m for all of Sampson County, not just Salemburg.”