Ernestine Hagman, a retired teacher, said she suffers from a genetic defect called insanity.

"My maternal grandmother taught for a little while, my mother taught for 42 years, I've taught, my nephew is a teacher, my cousins are teachers — it's a genetic defect," she said with a hearty laugh as she enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa on a cold November morning.

It is Hagman's dedication to students and education, even after her 2005 retirement, that made her one of the 10 Who Made a Difference this year.

She was born Ernestine Gallegos in Las Vegas, N.M. She graduated from Santa Fe High School and pursued a bachelor's degree in secondary education from New Mexico State University. While living and teaching in Santa Fe and raising her children, she decided to pursue a master's degree in guidance and counseling at New Mexico Highlands University.

"I would drive down there after school and during the summer — sometimes even drive down there on Saturdays," Hagman said, noting this was before NMHU had an auxiliary campus at Santa Fe Community College. Back in those days, she said, NMHU students had to pass oral examinations in order to graduate, and because Hagman was bilingual, she "had the great privilege of getting asked questions in English and Spanish," she said. "I was totally nervous. If anybody had taken my blood pressure on the way down, it would have been off the charts."

She worked in Racine, Wis., as a high-school social studies teacher, but finished off her career in the Santa Fe Public Schools, teaching at Capshaw Middle School and later what used to be the Santa Fe Vo-Tech High School.

"Kids are fascinating people," Hagman said. "That's all there is to it — just how they go to school and how they function in spite of their problems or their backgrounds and the crosses they had to bear and they came in and they did well."

"She was always a champion of her students, giving them wings to pursue their dreams, whether it was college, technical training or careers after high school," writes Mary Massey, a teacher at Capital High School who nominated Hagman.

Hagman said she loved teaching and still loves running into old students.

"I love to see my kids around Santa Fe," Hagman said. "I like running into them at the stores and in the shops and in offices."

When a student thanks her, it humbles her, she said. "Most of the time, you're just doing your job," Hagman said. She remembers a student who won what used to be called the Bootstrap Award for those who overcame obstacles to succeed. The student invited her to the awards banquet and thanked her for what she did for him. "The truth was I didn't do anything for him that I wouldn't have done for any other student."

Her advice to young, aspiring teachers is to teach the student, not just the subject. "The student is a whole person. He has a family, he has faith, he has culture," she said. "You've got to look at every bit of (a student). They are a whole person."

Hagman remains involved in advocating for student and teacher rights with her involvement in the New Mexico Retired Teachers' Association; as one of the Mayor's Children and Youth commissioners; as a member of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society of women teachers; and other organizations. Don't even get her started on the recent budget cuts to education.

"It seems that there are 100 other places we could cut before we cut education," Hagman said passionately. But she's doing what she can in her various committees and organizations to make sure that children are taken care of. She notes that she makes the most difference as part of the Children and Youth Commission.

"In 20 years (the commissioners) have funded a great variety of organizations that service youth," Hagman explained. She noted that some of the beneficiaries include the Boys and Girls Club, Girls Inc., and Gerard's House and various after-school programs, among other things.

"Children are our future," Hagman said. "If we don't take care of them, they're going to leave. We don't grow them stupid; they know what they want out of life, they know where the opportunities are and they're mobile, they'll go."

"She cares deeply about the future of young people in Santa Fe," Massey writes. "She is always fighting for this community to make it better, especially for its young people."

Hagman said she works to make the community better for the youth because it's vital that youth stay in the area.

"We need to be seeing young folks stay or else this is going to be a city that dies," Hagman said. "Kids are wonderful."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.