About a hundred friends, former students and fans of legendary East Los Angeles educator Jaime Escalante gathered at Garfield High School Saturday to honor the Bolivian immigrant whose success with his calculus students inspired newspaper articles, books and the film “Stand and Deliver.”
Escalante’s portrait will grace a commemorative Forever stamp, said Los Angeles Postmaster Ken Snavely. The U.S. Postal Service reviews thousands of applications each year and issues just 10 to 15 new stamps, and they rarely feature historical figures, Snavely said.
As the curtain fell to reveal Escalante’s demanding, kindly scowl, his former students raised their phones to snap photos and wiped tears from their eyes, pursing their lips in smiles tight with pride. Escalante died from cancer in 2010 at the age of 79.
“I can never talk about about Mr. Jaime Escalante without tears,” said Elsa Bolado, a former student of Escalante’s in 1982.
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