María Estela Muñoz Sánchez, a prominent teacher from Morón, who is now retired and reinstated, had no idea that the Cuban Association of Pedagogues in Ciego de Ávila had such a special surprise in store for her.

Her colleagues of many years in education, students and neighbours, gathered in front of her house in San José Street, presented her with gifts, songs and also the reading of a synthesis of her professional career, where they brought to those present relevant facets from years ago.

As Argelio Rodríguez Gazapo, Honorary President of the Association of Pedagogues in this province, explained, María Estela can be described as the «crystal voice of our education».

She graduated in Mathematics in 1974, and settled in Morón in 1980, as a teacher at the Pre-university in the Eulogio Fernández Camp, and later as principal at the Benito Juárez and Alfredo Álvarez Mola Secondary Schools.

Her record is brilliant, because María Estela was also a teacher at the Polytechnic of Computer Science, and it is noted here that she has had difficult assignments, but that at all times she has been able to maintain her smile and equanimity.

She is characterised by her simplicity and discipline, and several of those present agree that she is an educator who leaves her mark on her students.

It is then that she receives in her hands beautiful bouquets of flowers, simple presents that serve as a reminder of this singular moment. Meanwhile, the plaque Joya de la Pedagogía Avileña (Jewel of Avilanian Education) was fixed on the façade of her home.