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With gentle mannerisms and a soothing voice, Marisa León teaches more than lesson plans. She teaches lessons of life to her staff. The 42-year-old incoming head of school at Austin’s brand new Magellan International School says: “Teaching is my passion. Children grow through you.” And she carries that philosophy with her today as an administrator.
“It’s actually helping human beings be better. Teachers get comfortable teaching the same thing over and over. I pride myself in pushing my staff, but not in a dictatorial way. There’s no point in being a teacher if you don’t love children and being with children.”
León comes to Austin from the Gimnasio Fontana, an international school in her native Bogotá, Colombia, where she was the high school principal. The school, started by her mother 22 years ago, grew from 600 to 900 students in León’s 12 years there. And capping off her career in Colombia, she and the school were recently awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar Medal, and the school was recently accredited. In fact, one June day on a flying visit to Austin, León wore a jacket purchased in England in honor of the accreditation. The jacket’s creamy glow was offset by free-flowing, wavy black hair, an emerald ring on her right hand and simple pearl earrings – an emerald because it keeps her close to her culture, close to Colombia.
León has a strong grounding in international education that began with her own schooling. “I’m the product of a good bilingual school,” says León, who speaks in the vernacular with flawless English. She studied at international schools in Bogotá and then at an International Baccalaureate high school in New Mexico. Five members of León’s family have pursued the education field, including her mother and grandmother, both of whom launched their own successful Bogotá international schools. León and her husband, Ivan Mustain, who is almost 20 years her senior, met while she was at United World College in New Mexico, the International Baccalaureate prep school. He was her history teacher – but she carefully notes that their relationship did not begin until she was in college. They reconnected and became each other’s soul mate.
He helped her through an interesting challenge – the culture shock of truly American college life. While she had been accustomed to international diversity throughout her schooling, it took time for her to adjust to a sexually diverse culture at Bryn Mawr College, a small all-women’s school in Pennsylvania. “I came from a strong Catholic background,” explains León. Over time, León’s exposure to the lesbian culture brought her a gift: “It gave me an outlook in life that it doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation is. We are all strong women.”
The couple developed an even stronger bond after the death of their first child, Emma Gabriela. Emma was born in 2004 at 32 weeks, weighing just over a pound. She survived for three weeks. “My husband and I became very close to each other. It can go either way,” León says. “It made us appreciate what’s really essential in life. Encourage kids to be whom and what they are. It’s not about having the right cot, the right decorations. You only have them for a little bit.”
Today, arguing is rarely an option for the couple. “We’re good talkers. If we disagree, we very rarely scream at each other. We’ve screamed maybe three times in our relationship.” The two will share their Austin home with their daughters Fiona, 12, and Francesca, 9. Fiona is an independent child, says Mom, spending two weeks last year in Europe without her parents, while Francesca is “a girly girl. She looks like Mom, cooks like Dad.”
León’s international education training and upbringing suit her perfectly for the challenge of building Magellan International School, where tuition will be $8,500 to $11,000, plus fees. Children pre-K through second grade will be immersed in Spanish, with some exposure to Mandarin. Why Mandarin? “Mandarin is the language of the future,” says León. “Speaking Mandarin will give our children an advantage in this globalized world.” All of the Magellan School teachers will be bilingual, to ensure effective communication with parents and in the case of a crisis with a child. As the school grows and takes on third and fourth grades, students will speak Spanish 45% of the time, English 45% and Mandarin 10%.
As a teacher and administrator, León finds personal strength in her work. “Children keep you young,” she says.
MORE INFO
www.magellanschool.org