Dorrego, a middle school teacher at River Glen, is the second recipient of this new award.

"I am very honored," Dorrego said. "This award is special to me because the people that I respect both nominated me and worked on the decision-making committee."

Former River Glen Principal Cecilia Barrie nominated Dorrego. She was honored for her achievement at the 13th annual CABE (California Association for Bilingual Education) National Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Summer Conference on July 11-14 in Monterey.

As part of the recognition, she also received a three-week study program through the Spanish embassy in Salamanca, Spain.

Dorrego has been teaching at River Glen since 1992 and has helped develop the school into a two-way bilingual immersion school model nationwide.

"We are a nationally recognized program so when we go to the conferences, we present our teaching model," Dorrego said. "Often, schools that include middle school will come up to us and ask us to come to their schools and help their teachers develop their teaching models."

Linda Luporini, a resource teacher at River Glen, said Dorrego is a hard worker.

"She has been instrumental in helping other schools with their two-way bilingual immersion middle school programs and getting them up and running," she said "Mary immersed herself when she first started. That's how she became who she is today."

Dorrego said she has visited schools in New Mexico, Illinois and Alaska, as well as schools in throughout California.

Instructional videotape of Dorrego's teaching methods and interactions in the classroom is available to other teachers nationwide. The videotape is titled: "Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Linguistically Diverse Students: Profile of Effective Two-Way Bilingual Teaching--Sixth Grade."

At River Glen, Dorrego has taught everything from Spanish language arts to social studies. She has been recognized on public television for her efforts with the program.

"She is a true believer of the program," Luporini said.

This will be River Glen's 20th year as a two-way language immersion school.

"Ms. Dorrego lives the vision of the school," said school Principal Millie Arrellano. "It's who she is."

Immersed in language

Dorrego started teaching in 1984 at the Alum Rock Union School District.

"I felt frustrated and unsatisfied with their immersion programs," she said. "It saddened me to see students lose their native language skills as they transitioned into English."

Dorrego said she saw existing school programs as stifling student potential in their greatest resource, becoming both bilingual and biliterate adults.

"I know that these models, while attempting to do good, were not complete," she said. "To be a true bilingual person, you should be learning both languages all the way through."

Dorrego is grateful to have found River Glen.

"Teaching this program here has given me the opportunity to do what I love, what I feel I was meant to do," Dorrego said.

Dorrego spends hours developing the program, helping with the school curriculum and launching after-school programs including "Gear Up," an empowerment program for young girls.

"Her commitment to this school and its students shows through her investment of time here," Arrellano said.

Dorrego, who has taught the program for 12 years, has two sons, 16-year-old Ricky and 13-year-old Miguel, who have gone through the program at River Glen. She said the program's success is due to the teacher and parent involvement.

"Learning is a community activity and the school community at River Glen is very supportive," Dorrego said.

River Glen is one of the district's magnet schools. It teaches students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We have a stable community throughout San Jose," Dorrego said. "Most children come in at kindergarten and go all the way through, which provides stability. We can build on that instructionally through the years,"

She said she has seen brothers, sisters and cousins come through her classroom.

"We come to know the families," she said. "It makes River Glen much more than just a job; it's a community, a way of life."