By Mary O’KEEFE

For many people being a teacher is not something that can be turned on while in the classroom and then turned off when traveling in the outside world. Being a teacher to some is the ability to always see children’s needs and help find solutions.

For Pia Hugo that has been her calling.

“I started in business,” Hugo said. “I thought I would be in the [business world] for the rest of my life.”

But everyone around her, especially those at her church, saw how good she was with children, how even though she didn’t yet have her teaching credentials she was a teacher. She knew it, too. She felt she could contribute more as an educator so in 1997 she earned her teaching credentials.

“I became an econ [social studies] teacher,” she said, which seemed a great way to use her background in business in the classroom.

For about 20 years that had been her life, until this last year when she retired from Crescenta Valley High School. For Hugo retirement just meant another journey as an educator.

For years she has been traveling to the Philippines, where she is from originally. About seven years ago Hugo traveled to the southern part of the Philippines and discovered Dalipuga Central School. The school was in an impoverished area and was struggling with dilapidated classrooms that included ceilings falling down, which allowed water into the classrooms during the rainy season. She was able to collect some athletic equipment for the students and provide basic supplies but wanted to do more. There was a fundraiser held locally and churches, CVHS students, teachers and the CV community helped through their generous support.

But Hugo wants to return and do more.

During one of her prior visits and after speaking with the Dalipuga principal, who is also set to retire, they decided to open a school of their own. In 2007 she got her Masters in School Leadership and Administration in preparation for opening a school … one day.

“I have always wanted to start a private school,” Hugo said.

But a visit a few years ago made starting the school even more important and more timely.

“In May 2017, I was visiting my father in Mindanao, Philippines when a war broke out between Christians and Muslims,” she said.

The conflict was known as the Battle of Marawi when the Philippine military was pitted against militants allied with the armed group Islamic State (IS), according to a report by Amnesty International.

There was fierce fighting for several months between the Philippine military and the IS terrorist groups until IS was finally forced to surrender.

Hugo was concerned how the IS group had recruited child soldiers and how many in the Muslim community were forced into refugee-type camps, and are now struggling.

It was perfect timing to bring both Christians and Muslims together and offer them an equitable education. Hugo said there is a great deal of discrimination against Muslims and she hopes her school will offer a safe place where kids can learn to live together.

The drive to do this and help be a bridge of peace has been something Hugo has felt compelled to do for a very long time. Recently she discovered what might be the driving force behind her goals: the legacy of her grandfather.

“I had always known that my grandfather had been murdered by Muslim [fighters],” she said.

Her mother had shared that with her and when Hugo began doing research she found out much more about her grandfather.

“In 1932 my grandfather led a peace-keeping mission to this part of the island that had lots of hostile Muslim tribes,” she said.

Her grandfather and the men who were with him came upon one of the most fearsome of these tribes.

“They told him if he and his [men] laid down their guns, they would lay down their spears,” Hugo said.

Her grandfather agreed but when they laid down their weapons they were attacked and murdered by the tribe “in a most vicious way.”

Hugo’s grandfather is a decorated hero in the Philippines for his peace-keeping efforts, and for his death. For her, finding the truth about her grandfather gave her an understanding why helping the children there is so important to her. She is carrying on the peace-keeping work her grandfather did so many years ago.

The school will be on land left to her by her mother and she has already started working with an architect and is starting to build. She was told by the former principal there is already a waiting list of students. Hugo will start with two classes of kids, ages 3 to 5, with the plan to expand each year. The name of the school is Lighthouse Leadership Academy.

Hugo is fundraising this weekend, Saturday, July 3, and next Saturday, July 10, by having a yard sale at her home at 3760 Altura Ave. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For those who would like to donate please visit www.radianceinternational.org. The funds will be going through her church Radiance International.

For more information on the school, please visit www.lighthouseleadershipacademy.org.