AMHERST — Alicia Lopez of Amherst went through school knowing that whatever her life path would be, there was one career she would avoid at all costs — teaching.
Both her parents were teachers, and even seeing her mother, Sonia Nieto, win the prestigious Massachusetts Teachers Association Lifetime Civil Rights Award did not convince Lopez that the hard work and long hours were worth it.
Now 45, Lopez has been a classroom teacher for 20 years. Next month, at a June 19 ceremony in Waltham, she will accept the same civil rights award as her mother, who also earned the award when she was 45.
“More and more I am following in my mom’s footsteps, as much as I didn’t want to growing up,” Lopez said.
Lopez was nominated for the Lifetime Civil Rights Award, now named for Ayer educator Louise Gaskins, by Amherst-Pelham Teachers Association President Jean Fay. A language and English language learners educator, Lopez teaches some of the most vulnerable students, according to Fay.
“She really tries to ensure that every student she works with feels empowered and feels that they can, when they are working with her, do their very best work possible,” Fay said of Lopez.
Lopez instills in her students a sense that there are no barriers to what they can accomplish, Fay said, and she is a role model in the school and the community at large.
“You look at her and she just glows with energy — positive energy,” Fay said.
Fay had no idea when she nominated Lopez that Nieto also received the award in 1989. Lopez said winning the same award as her mother felt like “closing the circle.”
“It is a proud moment for me and a proud moment for her,” Lopez said of her mother. “She respects and supports teachers.”
Lopez, who also serves as faculty advisor to the Latinos Unidos student organization, as a member of the Tradiciones Dance Troupe and as director of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project’s Summer Institute writes a blog about her teaching titled Maestra Teacher. The blog covers a range of topics, including civil rights issues in the classroom. A post titled “Invisible Students” discusses how new students who aren’t fluent in English can feel invisible or stupid. Students who come from other countries and speak little English are often torn between two cultures and two different life experiences, she writes.
“When they are here, they will miss there, and wish to go back,” the post reads. “If they go back, they might miss here, their friends, their experience, their teachers. And in my experience, absence makes you idealize the life you left behind and your home.”
Lopez said social justice and civil rights issues are not separate from her curriculum, and she said that can be the case for all teachers. Looking for her own materials, she does her best to make her students look beyond what is written in textbooks. “I hope that the end result for them will be that they are more critical, and think ‘What is the other side of the story?’ ” she said.
The Amherst-Pelham Regional District was forced to confront racial issues during the previous school year when high school math teacher Carolyn Gardner was the target of racial slurs. During the current school year, Lopez said, the issue was not much discussed — but, she said, she hopes the discussion about race and about prejudice will return, with positive effects.
When Nieto, a retired University of Massachusetts professor in the School of Education, heard about her daughter earning the same award she won, she said she was thrilled — but not surprised. “She is a fabulous teacher,” Nieto said. “Even though she is my daughter, I think I can say that. She really cares for the community in very deep ways.”
Nieto, who also lives in Amherst, said she supported her daughter when she did not want to be a teacher. She was also proud when she heard Lopez say in college she wanted to pursue a career based on doing important and helpful work rather than making money, though Lopez still did not know what that would be at the time.
Lopez’s decision to take up teaching took place shortly after she graduated from Wellesley College. Following a talk by Jonathan Kozol about his book “Savage Inequalities” — which examines the differences between school systems in wealthy and poor districts — Lopez turned to her mother with a changed heart.
“She looked at me and said, ‘OK, I have to be a teacher. There’s nothing more important I can do,’ ” Nieto recalled.
Nieto said she is proud of her daughter, and proud of her profession. “For me, one of the greatest things you can do is teach,” she said. “It is one of the hardest and most rewarding careers. You are never going to be a millionaire, you won’t get much fame or any fortune or any recognition, but you’ll know you are making a difference.”
