Portland State Magazine Fall 2019

27 been there Regional Teacher of the Year Mercedes Muñoz draws on her own troubled history when relating to her students. WRITTEN BY JILLIAN DALEY IN HER first term at Portland State, Mercedes Muñoz found herself homeless and on her own with her three children: an infant, a seventh-grader and a second-grader. “That was super-super-stressful to try to take the finals and do well and be in a housing crisis,” Muñoz recalls. She and her boyfriend had been evicted from their apartment because they couldn’t pay rent—he had lost his job, unable to work as he struggled with sadness over deaths in his family. She and her boyfriend split, and she found a place to stay for herself and her three children in a motel in Sandy. That was 12 years ago, and Muñoz, 42, a first-generation college student, has slowly risen through the academic ranks. She started her education with an associate degree from Portland Community College in 2005. Amidst her housing crisis, a friend sheltered her and her kids, risking losing her Section 8 government- subsidized housing by taking on unsanctioned tenants. Muñoz had