Maria Trejo

Maria Trejo is a very kind and helpful person that works at Ames Middle School as the Elevate Director. She primarily brings in programs that will help develop 7th and 8th graders. She loves working with families in terms of just trying to guide them to a positive path in life and preparing them to be a leader and not a follower in high school because its a difficult transition as well.

She went to college and was a part of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. At first she started off as the parent volunteer at Monroe Elementary School when her daughters were young. She found the organization by volunteering and from there she moved up within the organization. She found herself liking education and she got married very young so she didn't finish college. At that time her husband had a land loaning business and they got a large amount of money with that business, but it soon ended because they got divorced.

She started going back to school many years after she graduated high school. But it was very difficult for her to go to school and take care of two children. Her daughters now are in college and both have scholarships. She does not regret her daughters, but she definitely regrets getting married. And now she has a wonderful job and two successful daughters. She enjoys helping kids so much that she decided to become a teacher, so a few years she graduated as a bilingual cultural teacher, but she was not yet able to teach in a classroom because of the positions she has now. She feels like she has more access to families and students to just be in a classroom.   

She thinks that students need more help with their education. She thinks also thinks that Ames should stay as a public school because if it becomes a military academy it will affect Kelvyn Park a lot because it will be difficult to to have high schoolers and middle schoolers in the same school . She did everything she could to help Ames Middle School and Kelvyn Park High School but it didn't change CPS’ decision. She feels proud of her success even though she didn’t get what she and others were fighting for, but she now wants to study law so she can be able to help the schools that have a similar problem as Ames Middle School.

Maria Trejo said to enjoy and participate with the clubs and activities our school has. Take advantage to study because there's a lot of kids that don't have an education. She also said that to not have kids at a young age and to wait until we finish college because it was difficult for her at her age and that its going to be even more difficult for a teenager. She believes this because you have to worry about school, paying for books and all the things you’ll need such as a baby, buying things for not only yourself but for the baby, and having the time to take care of another human being.