Local Catholic Leader Named Finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year
Reflecting on her journey in education, Viviana Martínez sums up her vocation in one phrase: “Education is a call to serve.” It is a conviction that has guided her work and the way she accompanies each of her students.
A Spanish and history teacher at the public Vista PEAK Preparatory school in Aurora and co-founder of the family ministry Dios Entre Nosotros, Martínez received the news last week that she had been selected as one of eight finalists for the 2027 Colorado Teacher of the Year award, presented by the Colorado Department of Education.
A Vocation Beyond the Classroom
For Martínez, education goes far beyond teaching a subject. It means accompanying each student as they discover who they are, recognize their gifts and find their own path.
“One of the greatest gifts of education is when a student understands that they have a story to tell and that no one else can write it for them,” she said. “Every teenager has a dignity, gifts and a mission that are unique. So the teacher’s task is to accompany them with patience, high expectations and hope, creating the conditions that allow them to discover their potential and respond freely and responsibly to their own vocation.”
As a finalist, Martínez also sees the nomination as an opportunity to highlight the value of her roots and the community she represents.
“It is an honor for our Hispanic community to be represented in this nomination, because I am Latina, an immigrant, first-generation — Spanish is my first language — a wife, a mother and an educator,” she shared.
But for her, being among the finalists also carries a responsibility.
“I receive it as an opportunity to amplify the voices of my students and my community and to remember that education can open doors, but when those doors are opened, we have a responsibility to keep them open for those who come after us,” she explained.
A Faith Shared Through Example
While Martínez is proud of her roots and her story — something she has also passed on to her students — one of her greatest challenges, and at the same time one of her greatest accomplishments as an educator, has been sharing her faith through her witness.
“My faith illuminates the way I teach,” she said. “God equipped me for the mission with his grace. I began speaking about God without speaking, but through the witness of my life. I came to understand that evangelizing often means planting seeds.”
And although one does not always see the fruits of what is planted, over the years Martínez has experienced that harvest through students who return years later to thank her and share their accomplishments.
“I have learned that teaching is not only about working with students; it is about building community, accompanying families, supporting colleagues and opening paths for those who come after us,” she said. “The different leadership roles I have taken on have been an extension of my teaching vocation: serving beyond my own classroom.”
Those fruits have also appeared in ways Martínez may not have imagined when she began her journey as an educator. Over the years, her students have taught her valuable lessons as well.
“God has taught me many things through my students, but above all, he has taught me to persevere, to trust and to have hope,” she said.
More Than Grades
When Martínez speaks about what she hopes to leave with her students, she does not talk about recognition, but about identity, purpose and hope.
“If one day, many years from now, one of my students remembers my class and thinks, ‘Mrs. Martínez believed in me. She helped me believe that I could do it. She taught me to value who I am,’ then I will feel that I fulfilled my mission,” she said.
In everything she does, Martínez seeks to help her students recognize the value of their language, culture and history.
“My work with Spanish-speaking students has allowed me to see how language, culture, roots and traditions can become a source of pride and strength,” Martínez told the Denver Catholic.
As a woman of faith, she also recognizes that “my first vocation is the call to holiness.” In the different responsibilities God has entrusted to her — as a Catholic, a Hispanic woman, a wife, a mother of five and an educator — she continually strives to “seek God’s will” and live out her call to love and serve.
The fruits of Martínez's work have extended beyond the classroom. She is also the confirmation sponsor of several of her Vista PEAK students and joyfully shared that one of her students hopes to enter the seminary and become a priest.
“You never know what you are going to encounter in a public school! God is present here too, working in ways we often do not imagine,” she shared joyfully.
Today, beyond academic results, Martínez sees the true value of her work in the impact she can have on her students.
“Today I know that I cannot measure the success of my work only by grades or recognition, but by the lives I was able to touch,” she said.
“The Lord asks us to scatter the seed everywhere, in every corner where he places us. I simply concern myself with sowing the seed everywhere I go, with great faith and with the certainty that God is the one who makes it grow,” Martínez concluded.
The 2027 Colorado Teacher of the Year will be announced at the end of September.
