Evangelina Lugo has spent more than 50 years helping students succeed at Roberts-Naylor K-8. Now, the school is celebrating her legacy by naming the library in her honor.

“Whenever I would see her, she had a book in her hands; either reading it herself or listening to one of her students as they read it,” said office manager Luba Wishman.

Tucson Unified School District’s governing board voted last month to rename the library in Lugo’s honor, and school and district officials marked the occasion with a ceremony that included an unveiling, ribbon cutting and award.

Family, current and former students and community members were all on hand to watch as her name was revealed over the doors to the library.

“She’s been here for over 50 years. Everybody knows her. Every week she’s here to volunteer with the kids,” Roberts-Naylor Principal Bernadette Rosthenhausler-Espinoza said about Lugo's contributions. “She’s 92 (years old), so we thought it is long overdue and it’s time to do something to show Mrs. Lugo our appreciation for her.”

Located along the 29th Street corridor, Roberts-Naylor includes students from all over the world who speak more than 20 languages. But one thing they have in common is that they all know Lugo.

She first got involved with TUSD in 1971 as a volunteer at her son’s school. A year later, she was hired onto the staff and, over the years, worked as a cafeteria worker, monitor and aide, said Wishman, who started working with Lugo in 1998.

“She’s always been a very hard worker and was willing to go above and beyond what has been expected of her,” Wishman wrote in a letter of support for the library’s renaming.

Lugo retired in 2014, but she’s still a constant presence at the school, volunteering three days a week.

“I truly believe that her heart and soul has and will always be with the students who have been or who are still at Roberts-Naylor,” TUSD teacher Gloria Kanis wrote in a letter of support.

Kanis met Lugo in 1981. She said Lugo would volunteer in her classroom, making copies, helping grade papers and working with struggling students.

“I believe her favorite ‘job’ was to sit and help a student in whatever they needed,” Kanis said.

Last year, Lugo asked Kanis to teach her some fifth grade math so she could help students.

“To want to learn something new and complicated at 91 is awesome,” said Kanis.

Whether it’s working one-on-one or in small groups, Lugo goes above and beyond when helping students. All of the letters of support sent to the governing board described her as reliable, responsible and passionate about reading.

“Her love of reading is evident in the classroom as she worked to build a love of reading culture through her work with reading groups,” wrote Janelle Odom, who met Lugo in 2000 when she started working at Roberts-Naylor K-8 as a fourth grade teacher.

She said Lugo helped contribute to the sense of community displayed at the school.

“She always greets you with a welcoming and infectious smile,” Odom said. “You can’t help but feel your spirit lift just a little in her presence.”

To this day, Lugo’s words of wisdom inspire not just students, but also her co-workers.

“Mrs. Lugo, or momma, as I call her now after 20 years of mothering me, was an integral part of preparing me to become a teaching assistant, a teacher in my very own classroom and ultimately part of the administration at Roberts-Naylor,” wrote Assistant Vice Principal Amanda Marchioni.

Marchioni was working as a teaching assistant when she first met Lugo, who she said “gently but firmly showed me the ropes and taught me how to embrace not only my students but our community at large.”

“In a world filled with an ever-changing landscape in education, Eva Lugo has been the constant at Roberts Elementary and then Roberts-Naylor K-8 for the last 43 years,” Odom said.

Arilynn Hyatt is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at arilynndhyatt@arizona.edu.

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