01 Jul 2023 Kid of the Month: Omar Torres

By Becky Bell

When Omar Torres, 10, came to Baseline Bilingual School in Little Rock, he was a timid second-grader who struggled with clearly speaking to his classmates and teachers, said his principal, Ida Wells.

But my, oh my, how times have changed regarding Omar’s grades, his outlook and his hobbies since he began working with Wells, who knows her way around academics blindfolded. She has been an educator for more than 50 years, a teacher with the Little Rock School District for 38 years and worked for the Arkansas Department of Education for 13 years. She tried to retire in 2011 but came back to education and just can’t seem to quit because she loves seeing how lives can change.

“Omar is one of my success stories. He is one of my kids who is going to go on and do great things,” Wells said. “He overcame not being able to speak and being afraid to speak and now he speaks bravely. At first when he came in, it was, ‘I can’t do that,’ and I kept encouraging him and working with him. At first it seemed almost impossible with his academic challenges, but Omar has mastered all of that, and this past semester he learned how to play the violin.”

Baseline Bilingual Elementary has a partnership with the Arkansas Orchestra, and on this year’s graduation day, students who had been studying orchestra instruments performed for their parents and other guests. “My teacher would teach us how to play the violin and how to hold it,” Omar said. “I was the first one to get a real violin.”

Wells is impressed with his progress. “Omar and three other students are top of the violin class. In the recital, Omar led the group and did all the signals and cues and directed the other kids,” she said. “I don’t play the violin, but he was directing about 12 kids, and when you play the violin you say position, rest, start.”

Omar also plays the piano but has only had three lessons. When asked which instrument was his favorite, he said both. “I couldn’t pick a favorite,” he said.

Curious to know if playing the violin came as a challenge, the question was asked, but Omar seemed surprised by it and gave a resounding no. From his answer, it sounded like any other child could pick up a violin and begin playing it. “It was easy, and by a couple of weeks, I was good at it,” he said.

Omar’s mother, Martha Torres, said when her son arrived at the Bilingual Baseline School, he was so shy. “He didn’t like anybody to talk to him. He was quiet and he was in speech therapy too,” she said. “Now he is more open. If you talk to him, he will talk more. He now adds stuff about himself when he is talking to people. He is doing good on that.”

Wells has no doubt that the all-A student will be a successful adult. He has already conquered challenges that would have bound him to a different life, but now that he has been victorious in his education, he can go forward and think about what he wants to become later.

His thoughts are currently toward engineering because he loves playing with robots and would like to design motorcycles. Or maybe he would like to be the director of an orchestra one day. Who knows? He’s already had a little practice.