Extension magazine - Fall 2023

24 INSPIRE
Lumen Christi Finalist
Extension | Fall 2023 25
Carmen Alicia Rodríguez Echevarría, principal of a damaged but
thriving school, works with a prospective student.
CARMEN ALICIA RODRÍGUEZ ECHEVARRÍA |
DIOCESE OF PONCE, PUERTO RICO
At earthquake-damaged
school, students flourish
under unflappable
principal’s leadership
Carmen Alicia
Rodríguez Echevarría
is unflappable.
The principal
of Inmaculada
Concepción School
in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, which
serves children pre-K through
eighth grade, is a job that demands
a certain amount of unflappability.
But doing it through an earthquake?
And then a pandemic? And
then another hurricane, in an area
still recovering from Hurricane
Maria? And then raising school
enrollment by nearly 300 percent
in the process? This is world-class
unflappability.
For Rodríguez, this is personal.
She graduated from the school in
1998. She is a homegrown talent.
As a young athlete standing out in
volleyball, she received a sports
scholarship at the Pontifical Catholic
University of Puerto Rico. In
2005 she completed her bachelor’s
degree in education, specializing
in secondary mathematics,
and in 2008 she received a master’s
degree in educational supervision
and administration. She is
now going for her doctoral degree.
For 14 years she worked as a
math teacher at Cristo Rey Academy
in Ponce, where she developed
as an educator, mentor and
academic leader. She and her husband
developed a sports and fam-
Inmaculada Concepción School in
Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, was severely
damaged in a 2020 earthquake. 2023 u 2024
ily project in Guayanilla, which
gives low-income children and
young people an outlet to have fun
and develop team-building skills.
Sports were key to Rodríguez’s
development, and now she is giving
those same formative opportunities
to the young people from her
hometown.
FINDING SOLUTIONS AMID
DISASTERS
But nothing could prepare
Rodríguez for the trifecta of troubles
to come that would test all of
her skill, faith and resolve.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake
struck the island on January 7,
2020. It devastated Inmaculada
Concepción, the parish and the
town. The church walls collapsed
on part of the school, leaving over
half of the school’s building useless.
Many families pulled their
kids out of the school and fled their
disaster-stricken town.
Around that time, Rodríguez
received the phone call from Father
Melvin Díaz, the parish’s
equally unflappable pastor.
He knew that if there
was one educator in town
that could help the school it
would be her. She accepted
the challenge to lead her
alma mater.
Then the pandemic struck in
March. All the schools in Puerto
Rico were closed, but the unflappable
Rodríguez improvised and
trained staff to provide online
instruction. The virtual teaching
system was so successful that
enrollment rose from 90 to 229
students.
In September 2022 Hurricane
Fiona roared in and took what
remained of the church roof and
deposited it next to the white tent
that the parish uses for the Eucharist
and the school uses for a lunchroom.
In spite of this, the school grew
again this past year. As classes
begin for the 2023-2024 academic
year, enrollment is expected to go
Lumen
Christi
AWARD
FINALIST
Carmen Alicia
Rodríguez Echevarría
increased enrollment
by finding creative
solutions, such as
outdoor tents, to keep
students learning.
up yet again to 250 students.
The staff has cleared
out attics, storage rooms
and pantries to use all the
physical space they have
to accommodate the students.
Catholic Extension
is supporting them
by funding air conditioning units
on an upper floor, so they can add
desks for students.
What has happened under
Rodríguez’s leadership is nothing
short of a miracle. This is especially
true considering that most
school families are working class,
and the parish—which serves a
town where more than 50 percent
live below the poverty line—does
not have the means to subsidize
tuition for its schoolchildren.
Families, no doubt, believe that
sending their kids to Inmaculada
Concepción is an investment in
their future. Perhaps they want
their kids to be just like the school
principal—a confident, well-educated
professional who uses her
talents to help build back their
struggling town.
FLOURISHING THROUGH FAITH
Parents don’t send their kids to
schools with great missions. Parents
send their kids to schools
whose leaders personify a great
mission. Rodríguez is Inmaculada
Concepción’s great mission. She
shows that we are all sustained by
the grace of God.
And what does Rodríguez say?
She quotes Psalm 92:14–15: “Where
the Lord plants you, you will flourish
and bear fruit, because it is the
grace of God who sustains you.”
God is not done channeling
graces through her. In her “spare”
time, she is completing her doctoral
degree in education at the
Pontifical Catholic University of
Puerto Rico. She wrote her thesis
on the impact of remote learning
during the pandemic, as a way to
understand how she can put all her
students in a position to succeed
academically.
All the eyes of Rodríguez’s students,
parish and community are
fixed on her. They see a role model
and reason for hope that not even a
hurricane, an earthquake or a pandemic
can stop.
She is unflappable. World-class
unflappable.